By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Aug 18: Residents along Jalan Setia Raja are raising strong objections against the Automated Rapid Transit (ART) elevated track being constructed directly above and overhanging their houses, which they claim encroaches into their property rights.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who visited the construction sites this morning at the request of residents, said piling works are already being carried out just a few feet away from house fences along Jalan Setia Raja.
“By the look of it, the pillars will be constructed right next to the fences, with the ART track hanging over the house compounds.
“This is definitely an encroachment into the reasonable airspace of the houses,” he said in a statement yesterday (Aug 17).
According to Chong, the initial alignment for the elevated ART track in the approved Environmental Investigation Report (EIR) showed that the structure would run along the middle of the road.
However, residents were alarmed to discover that the plan has since been altered, resulting in the track being built above their homes.
He stressed that both the government and the consultant for the project must explain why the alignment was changed and how affected residents will be compensated for the loss of peaceful enjoyment of their homes.
“A person’s house is his castle. It is also our constitutional right that no one is to be deprived of his or her property or the right to enjoy it without reasonable compensation.
“All the residents are asking is for the government to revert to the original alignment along Jalan Setia Raja instead of building the pillars right next to their fences and the track above their compounds,” he said.
Chong added that piling works carried out so close to homes are already causing residents to feel vibrations and breathe in fumes from the machinery throughout the day.
He urged the government not to ignore the plight of the residents, stressing that the measure of a government is how it treats minorities who are directly affected by development projects.
“The government must not allow the property rights of these residents to be trampled upon in the name of development,” he said. – DayakDaily
