Commuters in Kuala Lumpur have been assured of improvements in infrastructure and public transportation in line with the overall increase in transport costs.

saravanan Deputy Federal Territories Minister M Saravanan said a proposal containing recommendations to alleviate traffic congestion and improve the state of public transportation in the city has already been submitted to the cabinet.

"We have identified twelve traffic congestion ‘hot-spots' in Kuala Lumpur and proposed several measures, such as road expansions and the building of additional flyovers," Saravanan said when contacted by Malaysiakini .

"For public transportation, we are in the midst of negotiating with bodies like the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry for improvements to bus, taxi and light rail transit (LRT) services.

"We understand (the complaints regarding public transport and infrastructure) and we have already suggested upgrade measures," he added.

car park and parking meter 110708 03 Part of the government's efforts to bring about such improvements is the move by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to install parking meters in commercial areas that previously did not have them, said Saravanan.

"When there are no parking meters, people tend to park as they wish. By installing meters in more commercial areas, traffic congestion can be controlled," he said.

New parking meters tick people off

Saravanan was responding to comments by several Pakatan Rakyat members of parliament regarding the scores of parking meters that had appeared throughout Kuala Lumpur.

car park and parking meter 110708 01 Batu, Kepong, Seputeh, Wangsa Maju and Titiwangsa residents had complained to their respective MPs that parking meters had suddenly been installed not only in purely commercial areas, but in locations that are a combination of commercial and residential premises.

The move was considered particularly callous in light of the increase in the prices of goods and services following the oil price hike early last month.

According to PAS parliamentarian for Titiwangsa, Dr Lo'Lo' Mohd Ghazali, DBKL had angered many of her constituents by placing the meters in residential areas.

"If the deputy minister says the meters have only been placed in commercial areas, then perhaps he does not know what is really happening on the ground. It's happening not only in mixed commercial-residential areas, but in (purely) residential areas as well," she told Malaysiakini .

car park and parking meter 110708 02 Saravanan denied this, saying "the meters have been placed only in commercial areas".

He conceded, however, that some residents could have been forced to pay parking fees due to the location of their shophouses above commercial premises.

He added that the 80 sen-per-hour parking meter rates in the city centre and 50 sen per-hour rates outside the city centre have not been increased since 1984.

Saravanan also said the flat rate of 80-sen per hour applies regardless of whether the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or an hour, adding that parking fees will only be charged between 7:30am to 6pm from Monday to Saturday. There are no charges on Sundays and public holidays.