The locations of Pasar Ramadan in Subang Jaya has always raised objections every year, especially the one is SS18 & USJ4 (USJ1 & USJ7 escapes such level of complaints). The objections arise especially from the neighboring houses, which is very understandable. The complaints revolve around to traffic congestion, parking congestion, smoke from the cooking, & rubbish left over. This year, we have to also contend with the the on-going LRT construction.
As a councillor, this is one of the harder cases to handle, as unlike potholes or broken playground equipment, there is no clear answer that will satisfy all. All these issues have been discussed at length in MSPJ, and the approval to set up the Pasar Ramadan was certainly not taken lightly.
Pasar Ramadan is very popular among the residents, and arguably has been for a very long time part of our traditions and way of life. A simple google search on "Pasar Ramadan" will yield so many results of blog post and forum comments demonstrating that fact.
Unfortunately, unlike some other townships, Subang Jaya is very "built-up", leaving very little open space suitable for this Pasar Ramadan. I recall in some other areas, it is held in Stadium car parks, among other places, which are not near houses. But such locations are not to be found in Subang Jaya.
The next best thing to do (also considering that Pasar Ramadan has been in Subang Jaya as far back as I can remember), is to manage the situation, to mitigate all inconveniences to the nearby houses. For the case of SS18, the Pasar Ramadan is still maintained there for the features where are yet to be identified elsewhere within the SS12-SS19 area, namely:
- The stretch of stalls must not prevent access to any homes, i.e. are there alternative roads to access the houses
- Availability of parking places (yes, admittedly there will never be sufficient "parking boxes", but the impact of overflow of parking should not grind traffic to a complete halt and minimize impact to overall traffic circulation. Thus, proximity to a underutilized main road like Persiaran Jengka between SS14/SS18 helps.
- The activities should not, if possible affect the traffic flow on Persiaran Kewajipan & Persiaran Tujuan, as this road at critical during the evening rush hour.
In the last couple of weeks, I have had discussions with both MPSJ and Prasarana on measures to mitigate traffic and parking issues, namely (do also refer to the diagram below)
- The reduction of stalls this year (from 200+ to 184 this year), and its relocation towards SS18/1...
- freeing up the circulation around the Padang, to enable more cars to park and move around the padang (not inside the padang!)
- Enforcement officers will be placed on the 4 residential streets to ensure proper parking.
- A total of 15 traffic enforcement officers will be placed around the area to help ensure proper parking and traffic flow.
- Prasarana will open at least 3 openings in the construction barriers for safe crossing from SS14 to SS18
- Prasarana will also ensure at least 2 lanes be open at all times, and where possible more than 2 lanes to facilitate traffic
- Prasarana has also committed to doing "Water spray" in the area before the stall set up everyday to minimize dust effects on the Pasar Ramadan.
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