Council: Increase in parking charges fair - The Star

May 15, 2008

THE RM2 parking fee levied at the six-storey Plaza Perbanda-ran in Jalan Chung Thye Pin in Taiping is fair, said Taiping Municipal Council secretary Shahrom Datuk Abd Malek

He said the increase from RM1 to RM2 at the council-owned building from May 1 should not be viewed as a burden by motorists.

“For RM2, a motorist can park there the whole day. Our survey shows that most of the mo-torists park their vehicles there for a long time.

“They also need not worry over the safety of their vehicles as we have stationed watchmen at the building,” he said, adding that the RM2 fee was lower compared to the council-owned parking lots in town.

He said motorists had to pay 60 sen for every hour they parked at the lots.

Shahrom was commenting on a letter handed over to council officers recently by Bukit Gan-tang MCA division chairman Datuk Ho Cheng Wang which among others contained an ap-peal to the state government to reinstate the RM1 parking fee at Plaza Perbandaran.

In the letter, Ho also requested that the state government intervene in the council’s move to revalue properties which in-advertently increased the as-sessment fees of such buildings.

Ho, who is also state Perak MCA secretary, said the state executive council meeting could intervene in such matters as done by the previous Barisan Nasional state government.

Other than the two-fold parking fee increase, Ho urged the state government not to burden the people further in view of the higher cost of living nowadays.

“A bowl of wan tan mee sold by hawkers at Plaza Perbandaran only costs RM1.80 but the imposition of the RM2 parking fee has forced the people to fork out more money to enjoy their wan tan mee there,” said Ho.

Responding to Ho’s letter, which touched on the increase in assessment fees, Shahrom said the valuation exercise only affected those who had carried out extensions to their original buildings.

Shahrom said the council had wanted to impose the new assessment rates on such houses in the past but decided to put it on hold following a directive from the previous state government.