KHALID TO MEET TRADERS
FT Minister to obtain traders’ feedback on road closure, says KL mayor
THE Federal Territories Ministry will hold a meeting with Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman traders next week to discuss the impending closure of a stretch of the road to private vehicles.
Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan said Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad would attend the meeting to seek feedback from the traders.
“We will take into account all views.
“Whatever the decision is, we will wait for the meeting with the FT minister and the relevant members of parliament,” he told Bernama after officiating the opening of the Jalan Klang Lama-New Pantai Expressway Link Bridge.
Nor Hisham said City Hall had on Friday received a memorandum from Jalan TAR traders, who were unhappy about the decision.
He said apart from the traders, the government also took into account views from the people. This, he said, was done via an online poll conducted from Feb 11, which showed that 65 per cent from almost 4,000 respondents, encompassing traders and the public, were in favour of the move.
He said a meeting with the traders was held before the decision was announced, but it was not attended by all quarters.
Last Tuesday, Khalid had announced that Jalan TAR, from Jalan Esfahan near Sogo to Jalan Melayu, would be closed to all private vehicles except buses, from March 15.
This, he said, was to transform the 1km stretch into a pedestrian mall.
At another event yesterday, Nor Hisham maintained that the decision to go ahead or postpone the closure of Jalan TAR was in the hands of Khalid.
Responding to the traders’ threats to close their stores on March 15, he said this would be discussed in the meeting.
“The decision is with the minister. We will discuss (the issue) in the meeting with the minister next week.”
Nor Hisham declined to comment on the chances of a reprieve, adding that they would “talk first”.
At a press conference on Thursday, Nor Hisham said the move was discussed in a postcabinet meeting two weeks ago.
It was learnt that City Hall also held a meeting with Batu Road Traders’ Association representatives on Jan 31, where the bombshell was dropped.
Traders claimed that in the meeting, City Hall executive director in charge of project management Datuk Mohd Najib Mohd said the decision was made, and the closure fixed.
Nor Hisham said he was prepared to sit down and meet the traders at “any time and place”.
He was responding to traders’ rejection of a walkabout without having a proper sit-down meeting beforehand.
“I don’t know, we will (have to) wait for the minister later.
“Yes, we will wait and see,” said Nor Hisham, while referring to Khalid’s walkabout on the street, which is scheduled for next week.