Penang MCA Youth has claimed the state government’s plan to implement paid parking on 290 additional roads is a plan to raise more revenue.

Penang MCA Youth chairperson Michael Lee in a statement today alleged the Penang government had long planned to collect more parking fees.

“It was absurd for the Penang City Council (MBPP) financial management committee alternate chairperson, Joseph Ng Soon Siang, to claim that the collection of parking fees from 290 more roads is doing a favour for the people.

“It seems more likely that the Penang state government has long planned for this.

“The lame excuse of collecting more parking from the 290 roads for the sake of the people was just like, after squeezing the people’s pockets, it is hypocritical to still expect the people to thank the state government for doing it for the people's own benefit,” said Lee.

The MCA leader dismissed the government’s claims that the implementation of paid parking was a response to complaints of limited parking space.

“It is simply foolish to punish the majority for some isolated cases.

“Ng also claimed that the state government only started charging parking fees when it received public complaints regarding some parking spaces being occupied for a long time.

“Even then, it is foolish to charge on a large scale just because some areas are having such a problem.

“The thing is, when the parking space is not enough, where should the people park their cars?” said Lee, who is also MCA Youth treasurer.

Former private lots

The Star last week reported Ng saying the council had gazetted parking lots for the affected roads, such as Karpal Singh Drive and some areas in Bandar Baru Air Itam and Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah.

"The parking lots were originally owned by private developers, but they handed over the lots to the council," he said at a press conference here on Monday.

Ng added that parking charges would be implemented in stages, reported the daily.

This is not the first time the issue of parking fees has caused consternation.

Last July, the Federal Territories Ministry raised the ire of Kuala Lumpur residents when it hiked parking fees in the city by more than double in certain zones, on the pretext of limited parking spaces.

Rates in the city centre were raised to RM1.50 for the first hour of parking and RM2.50 for the second hour, with a maximum parking period of two hours, while certain suburban areas also saw a hike of up to 100 percent.

Pakatan Harapan at the time raised concerns that the city's parking had been privatised to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP), the welfare arm of the Federal Territories Ministry, and is reportedly earning 65 percent of parking revenue, had raised concern.