PETALING JAYA, 8 Oct: The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) will focus on five key development sectors in their annual budget in line with the desire to make the area a sustainable city (PJ Lestari) in 2014.
The development plan agreed in the ‘PJ Livable City Strategic Plan 2030’ workshop in September refers to sustainable infrastructure, eco-friendly environment, traffic management, sustainable lifestyle and to empower organisations at an estimated cost of over RM150 million.
The Mayor for MBPJ, Datin Alinah Ahmad said, for sustainable infrastructure, the Council will focus on the development of green infrastructure, road maintenance and upgrading irrigation and drainage systems to overcome the problem of flash floods in the area.
“Under this sector, MBPJ will also provide pedestrian facilities, footpaths, paths for the physically challenged (PWD) and cycling paths as well as maintain several public facilities such as street lights,” she said in a speech to present the MBPJ Budget 2014 at Dewan Bunga Tanjung yesterday.
Under the eco-friendly environment focus, MBPJ will implement master plans through the Landscape and Beautification programme as well as the Green Corridor Development programme, as a step to make Petaling Jaya a garden city
Not forgetting, she said, MBPJ will also improve the quality of public cleaning and solid waste collection by increasing the number of staff and purchasing additional equipment to achieve the 30 percent target of public clean-up.
“To support the programme to make Petaling Jaya a low-carbon (emissions) city, the Council will extend the free parking incentive programme for hybrid cars from six months to one year,” she said.
She said focus on the development of traffic management refers to efforts to increase the use of public transportation and to reduce the use of private vehicles.
MBPJ is establishing strategic alliances with PRASARANA and the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) to create bus services, terminal hubs and feeder bus service in areas of the city centre. The number of parking lots will be reduced and the parking rate will be increased to reduce private vehicles in the city.
MBPJ targets for 60% of public transportation usage and 40% of private vehicle usage in the City Centre by 2030.
She said, under the same aspect, MBPJ also aims to have an integrated traffic control system and a centralised monitoring of traffic lights in Petaling Jaya.
“For new areas being developed, the Council required for the developer to install closed-circuit cameras (CCTV) at traffic lights and streetlights to be handed over to MBPJ and monitored by the traffic control centre,” she said.
Sustainable lifestyle refers to the increase of monitoring capability and enforcement in ‘hot spots’ to reduce crime.
MBPJ will continue with the Petaling Jaya Neighbourhood Safety Programme (PKKPJ) to patrol respective community areas, and the establishment of the Auxiliary Police Unit for the Department of Enforcement and Security to carry out security patrolling with the police.
Meanwhile, under the plan for organisational empowerment, administrative structures will be reorganised to form only 5 departments (from the 10 existing departments) according to main activities, namely Town Planning, Urban Design, Development of Services and Community, Urban Business and Corporate Business.
Simultaneously, the Integrity Unit, headed by an officer seconded from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, will be established and will be a member of Committee Meetings, the Tender and Quotation Board as well as the Audit and Governance Committee.
Licensing management will also be improved through self-regulatory methods, including the introduction of the Quick Response Code (QR Code) which will be placed at business premises and employee cards. The QR will display information about the licence holder, licence activities and the validity period or the licence, all of which can be accessed through mobile internet.
“It is hoped that this implementation will improve the efficiency of the delivery system, reduce complaints from the public and projects will be implemented more efficiently and effectively,” said Alinah.
The MBPJ budget proposed for the year 2014 is RM305 million (estimated revenue), while the estimated management expenditure is at RM278 million, while development expenditure is estimated at RM46.55 million.
