50 parking lots in TTDI vanish overnight

TTDI residents and visitors want City Hall to explain why 50 public parking lots in Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 4 have been converted into a no-parking zone. — Picture by Hasriyasyah Sabudin
Source: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/gottdiv3/Article (Veena Babulal, 1/5/2011)
Residents of and visitors to Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) are puzzled by the disappearance of 50 public parking bays in Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 4. They say the bays on the road opposite the high-rise Sinaran TTDI condominium vanished last week.
To solve the mystery of the missing bays, Streets went on a check last Friday. It was revealed that the lines marking the individual bays had been tarred over and a yellow line, stretching the length of the road, had been painted on to indicate no-parking. However, a City Hall parking ticket dispenser was still standing, as was the signboard indicating the site as public parking space. The change was apparently unknown to some drivers, including foreigners, who parked there and even dutifully placed parking coupons on their dashboards.
C.Y. Sia, is among those unaware of the change. During a visit to TTDI last week, he parked there, thinking it was a legal parking spot -- and was issued with a summons. Sia, a retiree who lives inBandar Utama, said: "There are limited parking bays in the area. Private parking lots here are expensive, costing RM2 an hour, while City Hall lot rates are only 50 sen an hour."
TTDI resident Ng Ah Hooi wants to know how the parking bays were removed without the residents' knowledge. "Neither the residents nor the public were informed, it is as though it happened overnight," he said. The businessman in his 50s lives in Jalan Rahim Kajai and drives to Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 4 daily to run errands. He said the parking bays were needed in the traffic-congested area. "If legal parking space is not available, motorists will have no choice but to park their vehicles indiscriminately or illegally, which will worsen the congestion here. "This area is high-density, with many high-rise condominiums, offices and a market. "People will start parking on double lines and dividers, and we could end up like our 'neighbours' in Uptown, Damansara Utama, who are facing serious parking problems," he said.
Another TTDI resident J.K.T. Hin, 64, said City Hall should focus instead on Jalan Aminuddin Baki, which is plagued by indiscriminate parking. "Why hasn't City Hall done anything about the haphazard parking problem in Jalan Aminuddin Baki and Lorong Rahim Kajai 14? "It should consider putting up no-parking and towing-zone signboards, especially inJalan Aminuddin Baki, which is a double-parking hot spot," said the retiree.
Meanwhile, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng has called for an explanation from City Hall. He said he had sent an official letter to KL Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Fuad Ismail on April 27. His service centre has been flooded by complaints on the matter in the the past week. He said he received an average of 20 complaints daily from visitors to the commercial district who had been issued with summonses for parking in Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 4. "It is possible that the developer of Sinaran TTDI could have removed the bays without City Hall's consent," Lim said. "If it has received City Hall's consent, however, the road, which is a public road, has to be re-gazetted. "The re-gazettement process takes a minimum of six months. The authorities would have to table the proposal in Parliament, get feedback from the public, go back to Parliament to get a vote, and get the King's consent. After all that is done, they would have to officially inform the public of the change in the newpapers," he said.
UDA Holdings Bhd, the developer of Sinaran TTDI, was unavailable for comment at press time.
Related news: Case of missing parking bays http://thestar.com.my/metro