Its general affairs manager Paul Fernandez said the move to close the road had been endorsed by Petaling
Jaya City Council, as well as by State assembly man Elizabeth Wong.

“In September, we had a meeting with residents, Wong and the local council, to address the issue. After looking at it from all sides, everyone agreed that the road should be converted to a one-way exit from Nov 20, and would be closed six months after that,” said Fernandez.

“BUCC agreed to allow one-way traffic on the road and called on the local council and Dijaya Corporation,
the developer for Tropicana, to find alternative routes.

“I don’t see why there should be protests when the matter had been agreed upon in the first place.

Representatives of the residents were present during those meetings,” said Fernandez.

He added that the issue involving the private road went back to 1993, when BUCC agreed to allow Dijaya to utilise the road on BUCC’s land as a temporary access road for Dijaya’s residential developments.

Back then, the residential area had no access road of its own and had to rely on what is now known as Jalan Tanjung Bandar Utama as a link to the main roads.

“BUCC agreed, out of goodwill, to lend that particular stretch of road to Dijaya until the Tropicana main access road was built,” Fernandez said.

“Now that it is almost ready, the road is supposed to be closed.”

Fernandez also said BUCC was only taking back what was rightfully its.

“However, the plight of the residents was also taken into consideration.

There are a few schools that are easily accessible by that road, so we decided not to close it altogether as planned initially.”

On Tuesday, Malay Mail reported that residents expressed their unwillingness to drive an extra four kilometres to access the area — a circumvention that may take up to an hour (it now takes just 15 minutes) — should BUCC close the road.

“There are many ways to access the area, not just via Jalan Tanjung Bandar Utama,” Fernandez added.