MBI urged to postpone the proposed scratch and display system as the new parking charges and to implement it only when a full and through study is made by an expert independent who has full knowledge on the parking meters.
The Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh( MBI) has now confirmed that the scratch and display system as the new parking charges would be implemented as from 1st September2006. Total gazette parking bays in the Ipoh City area is 12,000. Presently the coin slotting parking system is operative in only 6000 parking bays in the city area. The MBI now wants to expand its coverage to all the balance 6000 parking lots and these areas are Tambun, Bercham, Menglembu, Ipoh Jaya and other areas. Almost all the proposed new 6000 parking bays are located not in the inner city area but in areas near to residential houses. As it is this parking bays are not frequently used. The proposed minimum charge in the scratch and display system is 30sen for 30 minutes. This charge is higher then in the inner city where it’s only 10sen for 10 minutes under the present coin slotting system. In fact in the residential areas parking charges should be cheaper then in the inner city area which is supposed to be busier. Many rate payers from out side the inner city area have called us to complain on the proposed new parking system which is unfair and unreasonable to them. We welcome the recent statement by the Perak Menteri Besar(MB) who said that “we are not supposed to make money from parking. The rates are supposed to discipline people so that they don’t park too long” . In this respect we feel the MBI’s new scratch and display system is definitely contrary to the statement of the Menteri Besar. It looks like the MBI is more interested in increase its revenue. The MBI has provided the following information on the parking income for the year 2006 as follows.
2006 MONTH TOTAL AMOUNT RM
January 229,000.00
February 233,000.00
Mac 276,000.00
April 209,000.00
May 209,000.00
April 209,000.00
May 209,000.00
June 238,000.00
July 231,000.00
On 24August06 in a written reply to YB Keong Meng Sing(Menglembu) the MBI have reiterated that the parking revenue would be increasing with the increase in coverage area. We demand that the MBI take heed of the MB’s advice. Increasing parking revenue should be secondary and priority should be the comfort and convenience of the ratepayers. The MBI must seriously reconsider the proposed scratch and display system as the new parking charges in and around residential areas. Fake CouponsOn the issue of fake coupons the Dato Bandar has mentioned that “council enforcement officers would be equipped with scanning devices to detect fake coupons”. The Dato Bandar should realize that in other local councils which have the scratch and display system fake coupon could not be detected and arrested easily. Thus what can be done to overcome fake coupons is to install hologram in the coupons which is hard to fake. One hologram costs nearly 30sen- but this is expensive and not practical. Thus it’s almost impossible to check a fake coupon. We feel enough study has not been done by the MBI to ascertain and confirm whether MBI would be making a loss eventually in the proposed scratch and display system. Some more then 10 years ago the MBI had introduced the “Pay and display system” in some parts of Ipoh. Why was this done away? This system is similar to the present system in many ways. Littering would be a big problem with the scratch and display system as the new parking charges. What strategies have the MBI has to contain this littering? The scratch coupon is costlier then the punch hole coupon, which is the type used in Singapore. This punch hole system has more security features and thus will prevent fraud then the scratch and display coupons system.MBI full board meetingWe urge the 22 appointed local councilors to speak out at its full board meeting tomorrow. The councilors must ask the MBI to postpone the scratch and display system as the new parking charges and to implement it only when a full through study is made by an expert independent who has full knowledge on the parking meters. The study must be made public. DAP representatives and ratepayers would be present at the full board meeting to hear the appointed councilors articulate on behalf of the ratepayers. The DAP is disturbed. We feel this new parking system need to be re looked and restudied before its implemented fully. We are given to understand that the MBI had conducted a public study on the new parking system. Apparently the scratch and display system as the new parking charges could work well together with the existing coin slotting system. The rate payers of Ipoh are interested to know who conducted this study. What is the cost? What has been learnt and implemented? Finally when will this report be made public?
No comments:
Post a Comment