Illegal structures outside restaurants torn down

Taken down: DBKL personnel using a bulldozer to bring down the structure put up in front of an outlet in Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/10/7/central/9647883&sec=central (Photo by RICKY LAI & story by CHRISTINA LOW, 7.10.2011)
OWNERS of seven restaurants and bars in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, were caught by surprise during a Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) raid yesterday. Most of the restaurants in Lorong Rahim Kajai 14 had not even opened their outlets for business when the DBKL officers visited the outlets. The enforcement officers told the operators to bring down the illegal extensions in front of their shops.
BoatHouse owner Adeline Lim said DBKL officers came to their outlet on Tuesday night and confiscated the tables and chairs placed along the corridors without notice. “They also told us to dismantle our extensions where our patrons usually sit and dine,” said Lim. Her business partner, Yenni Law, said DBKL should have given them more time to remove the structures instead of coming by early in the morning before she could even hire contractors to remove it. “We were not given enough time and it was unfair take it down this morning,” she said. Law said she had been running BoatHouse for the past seven years without any problems until late last year. “The officers say that the restaurants are noisy but we do not even play loud music. “Perhaps the DBKL should measure the noise frequency in each outlet before coming to a conclusion,” she said.
The Pier operator Albert Liew said DBKL did inform him not to place tables and chairs outside his restaurant a few months ago. He was caught by surprise when he arrived to open the restaurant for lunch and saw DBKL’s bulldozer tearing down his neighbour’s structure. Liew said his losses for the day would amount to about RM10,000.
Sid’s Pub owner Geoff Siddle said DBKL’s action was improper as they did not even issue any notice to remove the structures. “We are not like mamak stalls where tables and chairs are placed all along the road. We only have two tables and four chairs outside and yet all were confiscated on Tuesday night,” he said. Siddle said the officers chased his customers away while they were still dining outside the restaurant. “We applied two years ago to DBKL to put tables outside but never got a reply,” he said.
About 50 DBKL officers from the licensing and enforcement department were involved in the raid. The officers also did not allow Siddle to place potted plants outside his shop because they said it obstructed the walkaway. “We are a neighbourhood restaurant and bar but we are not even allowed to beutify the area with potted plants,” he said. Siddle said he and another outlet as well as a represenattive from the residents association would meet the Kuala Lumpur mayor on the issue soon. Other outlets involved were Fourty Two East, Chip & Dale, Deutshes Gasthaus 2 and Tom, Dick & Harry’s.
A DBKL spokesman at the site said the action was taken after receiving complaints of noise from the residents. Furthermore, the shops were said to have violated the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, Section 46(1)(a) by erecting extensions and causing obstruction to the public.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said DBKL should have given the operators more time before taking down the structures. “Some owners also complained that DBKL is practising a double standard. “They do not summon or confiscate stalls operating illegally along the road side but act against those who have licences instead,” said Lim who will be be meeting DBKL on the issue.
DBKL could not be contacted for comments at press time.