The wall of Pudu Jail fronting Jalan Pudu will be demolished on Sunday night for the construction of an underpass which is part of a road-widening project to ease congestion in the area.
The project consists of a five-lane tunnel that will be in alignment with Jalan Pudu, while a slip road to access Jalan Changkat Thambi Dollah is also part of the package.
The whole project, to be completed in December 2012, will be carried out in stages and will involve traffic diversions.
It would take three days to demolish about 300m of the wall.
Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Fuad Ismail said the Commissioner of Heritage Malaysia said there had been no objection from them after understanding why the demolition was needed.
“This Pudu Jail area was also not gazetted as heritage,” said Ahmad Fuad during a site visit.
“Of course, there is always the dilemma when it comes to a heritage structure like this,” he said.
Ahmad Fuad said the the underpass was necessary because the congestion in the area had become acute.
Well-laid out: An artist’s impression of how Jalan Pudu and its surrounding areas will look after the roadwidening project is completed.Also present at the Pudu Jail site visit were Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun, UDA officials and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) officers.
Ahmad Fuad said he hoped, however, that the developer would retain the main gate of the prison.
“We are only using a small part of the wall for the road project and this issue must not be sensationalised,” he said.
He added that Jalan Imbi had become an important area because of another development coming up in Jalan Davis.
Ahmad Fuad said UDA had submitted a mixed development proposal before the road project was planned.
“Although the land is being given to UDA, we have not received any new plan from them,” he added.
Bore piling work will start after the wall is demolished.
A temporary wall has already been built inside the prison area to prevent encroachment and vandalism.
Ahmad Fuad said the project had been delayed for more than a year and its original completion date is March next year.
“Since it involves an underpass, a lot of digging has to be made and utilities removed, coupled with problems over land acquisition. But with the new date being set, I want the contractor and developer to fulfil their promise,” he said.
3 comments:
" Pudu Jail area was also not gazetted as HERITAGE"-ahmad
" dilemma when it comes to a HERITAGE structure like this "-ahmad
" he hoped, however, that the developer would retain the main gate of the prison " - ahmad
Is ahmad suffering from Foot in Mouth disease?
First he said it is not a heritage building and later admitting that it is and can only HOPE that the main gate will be preserve.
Apa punya ni?
YB, What's next after Penjara Pudu yaa? Maybe National monumen is good spot 4 new shopping complex. Oic its not 100+ years old yet.
Really frustrated to know this yaa. Hope we can do something to save this historic building. Count me if you want us for another demonstration.
Your Excellency,
Thank you for visiting the Pudu Jail site on the fateful day. Your gesture means a lot to me and no doubt many others who rued the loss of BBGS, Bok House, the Sg. Buloh leprosarium and other former landmarks that 'made KL KL'.
It seems that if the current megalomania and obsession with 'development' [read 'property'] continues, KL will soon become a greedy developer's dream: A place devoid of history and identity - a grey, soulless, glass-and-steel Gotham City. Anywhere.com, if you like. Revenue per sq ft is all that counts these days, and cutting down a forest is called 'unlocking the value of the land'.
Is this what we want? How does it gel with our proclamations of 'People First', patriotism, 'Malaysia tersejarah', 'Sayangi Kuala Lumpur' and our clever tourism campaigns? Tourists want to see history and authenticity, not just new things and shopping malls. They want unique and quirky, not 'copied and pasted'.
As early as 100 years ago, KL was famous among colonial officers for being quite unlike Singapore and Penang - in a good way: Green, leafy, speacious, uncrowded, pleasant. This was still true up to about ten years ago, but not now.
Those in our gov't who don't care about history and heritage (and clearly, that is the majority in our ruling coalition) should at least study the dynamics of the recent economic crisis in countries like the US. They would realize that property bubbles and overheated development can bring down a whole banking sector, and drag the national economy with it. From there it's a hop and a skip to a social breakdown like what we witnessed in Bangkok this year.
Keep up the good work.
Respectfully,
Sh.M.
Kuala Lumpur
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