Monday December 5, 2011

PJ New Town to be turned into the city’s first disabled-friendly area

By JADE CHAN
jade@thestar.com.my
Photo by NORMAN HIU

SECTION 52 in Petaling Jaya, popularly known as PJ New Town or PJ State, will be turned into the city’s first disabled-friendly area within the next five years.

Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman said the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has taken the initial steps to implement various disabled-friendly facilities in Section 52, and intends to invite the area’s business community to participate and contribute to the initiative as part of their social responsibility.

“The MBPJ has plans to install more infrastructure like covered parking, ramps, disabled-friendly toilets and tactile paving at 150 locations all over Petaling Jaya to make more areas accessible to the disabled.

“The installation will be staggered over a span of five years,” he said.

Roslan was speaking at the launch of the Petaling Jaya Disability Day celebration, which was held to commemorate International Day of Persons with Disabilities that falls on Dec 3.

A convenience: Roslan helping Independent Living and Training Centre president Francis Siva down the newly-installed ramp at the Gasing Veterinary Hospital.

He also officiated at the unveiling of a ramp and covered parking for the disabled at the Gasing Veterinary Hospital in Gasing Indah, Petaling Jaya.

MBPJ Town Planning director Sharipah Marhaini Syed Ali said the MBPJ also plans to connect all the parks in Petaling Jaya by linking these using a universal design and ensuring they are disabled-friendly.

“The parks will be linked using existing pedestrian walkways. We will also go down to the ground to look into how to fill in the missing links to connect all the parks.

“This exercise will allow us to gain more green space,” she said.

In his speech, MBPJ councillor and Petpositive president Anthony Thanasayan said MBPJ was the first local council in Selangor to establish a committee to look into the needs of the disabled and elderly.

“There are many changes taking place in Petaling Jaya because of this move, including Petaling Jaya’s first disabled-friendly park in Section 6,” he said.

“Even other organisations like Prasarana and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd are learning from MBPJ on how to improve their facilities for the disabled.”

The highlight of the event was a drum circle performance where invited guests from various disability-related organisations pounded, tapped and jingled their drums and percussions to their hearts’ content.