[top: Ghost town - the site of the old terminal is now deserted after the operations were moved.]

DESPITE all the objections and public debates, the Klang transport hub has been relocated from the Klang North bus terminal building to the new transport complex at Klang Sentral in Jalan Meru.

The Klang Consumers Association (KCA), bus operators, members of NGOs and even the elected representatives have not been able to stop the unpopular relocation exercise which was completed on Dec 27.

The former site at Jalan Batu Tiga, which used to be the busiest section of the town, is now a deserted place.

The express bus service has been also relocated from the Jalan Kepayang area while taxi services are still available next to the former express bus terminal.

The news of the relocation of the bus terminal operation drew a lot of negative reaction from the commuters, bus operators and the public.

The Klang Municipal Council (MPK), which is the operator of the service at the Klang North terninal, had first announced the relocation move in December 2004.

The then MPK president Datuk Mohd Sharif Yusof had announced that the move to the RM12mil Klang Sentral complex was final.

In 2005, the KCA filed an official objection with the MPK after it found that the move had not gone down well with the commuters and bus operators.

According to KCA president A. Devadass, he was told unofficially that only some buses would be based at the new complex while the main terminal operations would remain at the Klang North terminal.

NPO Development Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary company of the Titijaya group, is the developer of the Klang Sentral which is estimated to have a gross worth of RM300mil.

NPO signed a 30-year concession agreement with the MPK in January last year.

Under the agreement, NPO will build the terminal complex under the build-operate-transfer basis.

In November last year, some 100 people gathered at the Klang North bus terminal and staged a peaceful protest against the MPK decision to relocate the bus terminal operations to the new complex. -- The Star / Asia  News Network