Nightmare on Taman Bukit Sri Bintang streets

Photo from The Star: Confusing matter- Lim (front) looking at the old signboard (bottom) and the new one along with some others.

Story from: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles (By Noel Achariam of streets@nst.com.my, 25/10/2010)
KUALA LUMPUR: Residents and business operators in Taman Bukit Sri Bintang, Bandar Menjalara here are unhappy that the road names in their area have been changed without prior notice. They claimed that City Hall had changed the names of more than 20 roads last Tuesday. They said the new road names are confusing those living and doing business in the area. Taman Bukit Sri Bintang Rukun Tetangga chairman Angus Ng, said that City Hall should have consulted them before changing the road names. "We are not against the change in road names but they should have informed us about it first," said Ng. He said now residents would have to update the address in their MyKad while business operators would have to change the address on name cards, letter heads and their signboards. "The business operators had said that it would be difficult for them to receive cheques from their clients as the addresses are different now. They hope that City Hall will work together with Pos Malaysia to inform them of the change."

Resident Simon Khor, 53, said the change in road names would also confuse visitors. "How can City Hall change all the road names without consulting us? Even before the change, letters were being delivered to all the wrong houses, so we don't see how the new names are going to benefit us. We hope that City Hall can meet the residents and explain why the names were changed without any consultation," he said. Khor also said that the road names should be systematic and not all over the place. "We want the road names to follow a certain criteria. There is confusion now as the road names are not in order. If City Hall wants to change the names they should at least indicate the name of the previous road under the new road signages so that people would know where to go," he said.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng who received the complaint from the residents last week said that he had already contacted City Hall on the issue last Thursday. "After receiving the complaint, I faxed, send a SMS and called City Hall for an explanation but there was no answer. "Then I went to the City Hall office to meet the officer in-charge of road names. He admitted that there was no consultation with the residents and that the road names were gazetted in 2006," he said. Lim said that he was told by the officer that there were three procedures before a road name is gazetted. "The first is getting feedback from residents, the second is submitting the new names to a special committee for approval and the third is to submit the names to the Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Ministry for approval and gazettement. "All this was done four years ago, and when I asked the officer why did it take so long to put up the road names, the officers said that it took four years to make the road signages," he said. Lim said that the officer also informed him that City Hall will be calling for a meeting with the residents to discuss the issue. "We will have to wait and see what transpires in the meeting," he said.

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