KUALA LUMPUR: About 10,000 people are expected to attend the 5th Kuala Lumpur Car Free Morning programme this Sunday which will be attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
He will also take a 6km lap with Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib and cyclists from KLCC and back.
The flag-off would be at KLCC on Jalan Ampang and the entourage would go through Jalan Sultan Ismail before turning into Jalan Raja Laut and continue onto Jalan Dang Wangi between Sogo and Pertama Complex.
It would later head into Jalan P. Ramlee and return to KLCC.
He however said the location of the criterium loop in front of City Hall where the cyclists, roller-bladers and pedestrians could cycle around freely would remain unchanged.
Phesal said the event was an expression of the government's commitment to slashing carbon emission in the city by 40 per cent of the 2005 levels by 2020.
This was pledged by Najib in the Copenhagen climate change summit five years ago.
Phesal said said the car free day had more than tripled in response since it was first introduced.
From 2,000 participants in January the last car free day recorded 7,000 participants.
The event was also a catalyst to car free days in Johor, Pahang and Petaling Jaya. While Penang was now looking into extending their track.
For this event, 80 NGOs including residents associations would be given bicycles to encourage the sustainability of the carbon slashing activity.
"We want it to become a mass activity or mass movement in the city so that it could continue even without City Hall's push. This is why we are giving the bicycles to residents associations especially public housing RAs so that they can cycle around the place they live. We even have started talking to schools so that parents, teachers and students join us.
"We are also trying to be less government dependent by trying to encourage private companies to sponsor the event so an event like this can take place with almost no involvement from us.
He also said the move was to ensure the city was planned with spaces people could enjoy.
"Now every time we build a building we look at traffic conditions," he said, adding that the authority was increasing pedestrian walkways, planting more trees, building bridges that connect buildings and building bicycle lanes.
Currently he said City Hall had approached MRT to propose the usage of their road reserve under the elevated alignment.
When asked whether the activity would be made a weekly event he said the authority was not ambitious for now but he personally hoped for 20,000 to 30,000 participants by year end.
The response he said would boost their campaign to make the event a regular itinerary in their calendar.
"We need to encourage city folk to make the event something they identify with and they are proud of so its sustainable first. In Jakarta 15,000 to 20,000 people cycle along the 15km car free road they ever perform there," he said, adding they would look at the need and decide on extending the route's distance with the help of traffic police.
On measuring the carbon emission in the city, Phesal also said the authority would place a barometer to measure the carbon emission levels in the city to monitor whether it was on target.
The route was proposed to not disrupt the National Firemen's day celebrations which would be taking place concurrently at Dataran Merdeka, said the mayor.
Meanwhile he said the recent flood in Sungai Besi was caused by a pump working under capacity.
He said factories and plants released their waste into drains, further compounding the problem, however the flood mitigation system in the area was being monitored and upgraded after the incident.
The route was proposed to not disrupt the National Firemen's day celebrations which would be taking place concurrently at Dataran Merdeka, said the mayor.
Source : http://www.nst.com.my/latest/pm-to-cycle-at-5th-kuala-lumpur-car-free-morning-programme-this-sunday-1.584216
