DBKL Is Planning To Get Rid Of Parking Bays Inside Buildings In KL

The Sun Daily reported yesterday, 16 May, that DBKL wants to reduce road traffic and encourage city folks to use public transportation by introducing a new policy to disallow parking bays in Kuala Lumpur.

According to Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, Kuala Lumpur (KL) should model after developed cities around the world that have already implemented this policy.

"Look at what's happening in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Melbourne, London, the building style or redevelopment has changed and these buildings are not even allowed to build a carpark," he was quoted as saying by The Sun Daily.

"They are trying to deter the people from using cars in the city and this is among the things that we are looking at so that we can be on par with the greatest cities in the world."

"I would like to say sorry because at the moment there's a lot of congestion, a lot of potholes all over the city and there's a lot of things that needs to be upgraded," he told reporters at the launch of the 2017 Kuala Lumpur City Community Development Strata Seminar yesterday, 16 May.

"But we cannot address this issue right now because there's MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) construction, new highways under construction and also new roads and there's a lot of development in certain places."

He admitted that the projects have caused city dwellers much inconvenience but urged the public to "bear with them" and promised that the people "will not face such problems anymore".

The Putrajaya MP explained that the intensity and the pattern of land use in the city have changed due to the rapid urbanisation that has taken place in KL.

Since Kuala Lumpur is a small city, there have been more developments to build and maintain a strata community to save space.

"This trend has become a norm that KLites need to adapt to. They need to accept this fact and change their old mentality to a modern metropolis lifestyle," he reportedly said.

When contacted by reporters from Free Malaysia Today (FMT) yesterday, 16 May, Kok said that DBKL should also remove all parking bays outside of its headquarters in KL if they are serious about the move.

She also took to social media to voice out her opinion on the matter.

"Minister of FT, Tengku Adnan has made silly statements repeatedly ever since he becomes FT Minister. He approves high-density projects without looking at the traffic problem and public transport. Now he even wants to abolish parking bays."

"His statements show that he is living in rich men's area, he has no clue about the hardships faced by the ordinary folks in KL," she wrote on her official Facebook page.

"In the long term, yes, it is a good policy. But in the short term, the public will not accept it," MIP president Ihsan Zainal Mokhtar told FMT.

He added that it will take some time to cultivate a new habit but eventually more people will take the public transportation to commute around the city.

Ihsan reportedly said that DBKL must be able to come up with a comprehensive plan that ensures good public infrastructure. On top of that, he said that the city council should also consider lowering fees for parking bays and for public transportation services.

According to Ihsan, the policy has already been implemented in the Subang area in Selangor. He pointed out that Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations have lesser parking bays.

"This is a good move. But it must be done in a gradual manner for different parts of the city," he was quoted as saying by FMT.