Looking for a parking spot in Kuala Lumpur’s busy areas is a hassle as you have to constantly be on alert to look for an empty space. Once you’ve found an empty lot, you also have to check the colour of the grids at the spot to determine whether you can park there or not.
Source: KL China Press
Source: Oriental Daily
If the parking grid is red, this means that business owners have rented the space in front of their premises from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL). However, as we mentioned in another article before, these parking bays are not reserved for the whole day and there are actually designated timings when you can use these spots.
Yet, you still see many irresponsible business owners flouting the law and locking up the spaces even when it’s past business hours thus causing the congestion to worsen. Now, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has said that if these businesses continue to do so, he is demanding that DBKL strictly enforces this regulation and fines them RM500 for violating it, Oriental Daily reports.
Source: Oriental Daily
These bays are actually only rented from approximately 7.30am to 6pm from Mondays to Saturdays, after we made a quick check with DBKL. After 6pm and on Sundays as well as public holidays, these parking lots can be used by the public but still, many businesses are ignoring these regulations.
Lim went around the Kepong area to check yesterday (September 30) and he said that he saw several spots were still locked by the business owners. “I will ask DBKL to go around and check, if they see any other businesses doing the same I will urge them to issue the highest fine they can give, which is RM500 for violating this regulation,” he added.
Source: Malay Mail
These unscrupulous businesses are adding to the double parking problem that is ingrained in our culture, which leads to traffic jams. Sometimes, even when the lease is up, DBKL does not remove the pillars nor change the colour of the parking bays, which causes confusion as well.
Previously, only businesses such as banks, clinics and car wash shops were allowed to lease these parking bays but it looks like any type of business can do so now. Lim said that he would also be contacting the Minister of Federal Territories to discuss this issue as the leasing of these parking bays were managed by a private company. If they were not doing their job to enforce this, they would consider changing companies.
Source: Malay Mail
He encourages residents who encounter businesses that block the space after hours to report them too. However, in response to this issue, Oriental Daily asked some of these Kepong business owners and they reportedly said that they have never heard of this regulation before.
One of them said that they would only face a shortage of parking spaces during weekdays but there were adequate spots during the weekends so it shouldn’t be a problem. Meanwhile, some of the shop owners also said that they faced aggressive drivers who refused to move even when it was the allocated time for the businesses.
What do you think of this parking issue? Let us know in the comments section!
Also read: PDRM: ‘Human Parking’ Offenders Can Be Fined Up to RM2,000 Or Jailed
