Renew licences or be fined, businesses told - The Star

IPOH: April 25, 2008

Businesses under the jurisdiction of the Ipoh City Council have until April 30 to renew their licences to trade and display signboards and billboards.

The council would launch an inspection from May 1 and those found without valid licences would be fined RM200, said mayor Datuk Mohamad Rafiai Mokhtar yesterday.

He was speaking after chairing the council's first full board meeting after the general election.

Business licences range from RM20 to RM1,000.

Those who stopped operating their business should also inform the council, said Mohamad Rafiai, referring to signboards advertising defunct businesses.

On other matters, he said the city council's financial situation was satisfactory with reserves of RM43 million.

As of April 15, the city council has collected 51 per cent or RM34.5 million of the projected RM67.5 million assessment for the year, while arrears amounted to RM27.57 million.

The biggest culprits were the 45,432 residential owners who owed RM18.7 million and 1,033 factory operators who owed RM2.32 million as of March, said Mohamad Rafiai, adding that a task force had been set up to monitor the collection of arrears.

Residential owners who owed more than RM1 million are in Pengkalan (RM2.37 million), Bercham (RM2.24 million), Menglembu (RM1.53 million), Silibin (1.28 million), Lapangan (RM1.19 million), Rapat (RM1.16 million) and Perpaduan (RM1.07 million).

"We hope to collect about RM10 million or 35 per cent of the arrears this year. Last year, we targeted 30 per cent and collected RM8.5 million," he added