Pakatan
Rakyat (PR) lawmakers today demanded Putrajaya scrap its RM365 million
Integrated Transport Information System (ITIS), an eight-year-old traffic
monitoring system that the Auditor-General’s Report 2011 has highlighted for
wastages and described as “unsatisfactory”. In the report released yesterday,
it was revealed that despite the project’s implementation since 2005, a
significant 70.6 per cent of road users were not aware of its existence and its
hotline number, while 65 per cent have never used ITIS online to obtain the
latest traffic information.
ITIS kicked
off operations in 2005 with the co-operation of KL City Hall (DBKL), the
Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA), Transport Ministry and the Public Works
Department (PWD) as a system to monitor traffic, accidents, roadworks and other
activities occurring on roads and highways in Kuala Lumpur
and the Klang Valley
Citing a
parliamentary reply on June 18 this year, Segambut
MP Lim Lip Eng told a press conference here that it had already been
revealed that only 46 of the 140 Variable Message Sign (VMS) display units
under the ITIS are currently functional. Under ITIS, real-time information of
traffic conditions are meant to be disseminated via the VMS to help reduce
traffic congestion within the city. “The federal territories minister told the
Dewan Rakyat that the main cause of the malfunction and breaking down of the VMS
is because the components have achieved their economic age and there are no
replacement parts available in the market,” Lim said. He pointed out that the
ministry had also revealed that despite this, an annual allocation of RM1.5
million has been granted to DBKL to maintain the ITIS. “So for eight years,
they have paid RM12 million... they are paying them every year to purchase
spare parts that no longer exist,” he said.
Lim also
cited the Auditor-General’s Report as revealing that the government had
allocated RM36.87 million to DBKL to purchase a building for ITIS but City Hall
had instead used RM8.49 million to rent premises for the system. “My question
is: was the remaining allocation used for other purposes or was it returned to
the government?” he asked. He pointed out that the report had also revealed
that DBKL’s tenancy agreement was for a 30-year period, indicating a
possibility that the RM1.5 million maintenance allocation for ITIS may continue
for the same period.
“We want to
know if the government plans on discontinuing ITIS due to these concerns
raised... or do they plan on proceeding with the faulty system, at the risk of
squandering more taxpayers’ monies?” he said.
Agreeing,
Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar pointed out that the ITIS project, which
involves some 255 CCTVs and 728 automatic incident detection cameras, had on
its launch in 2005 been meant to help the authorities with crime fighting. But,
she said, after five years of implementation, the authorities, including DBKL,
had repeatedly refused to update lawmakers on the system’s failures and status
of the allocations. “This is another clear reason why we in Pakatan reject the
system of awarding projects via direct tender,” she said.
Cheras MP
Tan Kok Wai said the system should be scrapped entirely as it had purportedly
failed to fulfil its objectives. “Today, road users rely more on obtaining
traffic information from radio stations instead of using the ITIS,” he said.
Related
news: PR MPs point out flaws in ITIS system http://www.thesundaily.my/news/517467
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