The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) should look for ways to increase efficiency instead of raising new taxes since it is not as efficient as the Selangor government, argues PAS Federal Territories Youth Chief Khairil Nizam Khairudin.

Khairil said while DBKL and the Selangor state government have about the same revenue (RM1.69 billion and RM1.63 billion respectively), Selangor was able to maintain a balanced budget while serving a population 3.2 times larger than Kuala Lumpur's, who are spread out across an area 33 times the size of the capital city.

In contrast, he said DBKL wants to spend RM2.19 billion, or 34 percent higher than Selangor's expenditure.

"It is clear from these statistics that DBKL is not as efficient as Selangor. Instead of asking for more money, DBKL should find ways to increase efficiency and reduce cost and wastage.

"It should also be more transparent and responsible in showing to the city's residents how the money is spent," Khairil said in a statement yesterday.

KL spends four times more, per resident...

He added that in terms of operational costs, DBKL was spending more than four times more than Selangor per resident (RM907 vs RM201 per person), and almost five times more per household (RM3,348 vs RM738 per household).

Khairil was referring to DBKL's move to increase the assessments rates of Kuala Lumpur property owners from next year, with increases ranging from 20 percent to 300 percent.

He warned that this, along with other recent and forthcoming price hikes, would lead to inflation and increased cost of living, which in turn would cause social problems.

Khairil urged the Federal Territories Ministry, which oversees DBKL, to drop the assessment hike plans until a full study was done on its impact, especially on the urban poor.

He also called for any assessment rate hike not to exceed six percent and for the objection period on the new rates to be extended so that members of the public could express their rights as ratepayers.