Wan Junaidi: 'Kap chai' ban proposal must be backed by research

KUALA LUMPUR: The suggestion to ban “kap chai” motorcycles from entering the city centre in order to reduce carbon emissions needs to be backed by scientific research, said the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

Responding to Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor's suggestion that small motorcycles be disallowed from entering the city, Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said bikers weren’t the biggest cause of pollution.

“The small ones don’t emit that much. It’s the big ones that do. Why are we stopping the small ones? We should be stopping the big ones,” he told reporters during a press conference in Menara Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday.

Dr Wan Junaidi said that while he agreed in principle that reducing carbon emissions by cutting out private transportation was the way to go, proper research needs to be done to determine if such a move would really be the most beneficial to the environment.

He said his Ministry will meet with the Federal Territories Ministry to discuss this further.

“We need to know who the biggest emitters are. Are they lorries, buses, cars or motorcycles? For motorcycles, I don’t know because to me, it should be the big lorries that shouldn’t be allowed in,” he said.

An outright ban is also unfeasible, Dr Wan Junaidi said, adding that Kuala Lumpur could look at how London managed to get its residents to use public transport by making it difficult to drive cars around the city.

Tengku Adnan’s suggestion has also been met with resistance by the Transport Ministry.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi said most “kap chai” bikers were low-income earners and that a ban can only be looked at if there are convenient options for transport.