Klang Council disposing of abandoned vehicles as scrap metal

A worker in the process of dismantling recyclable parts from an abandoned car at MPK’s depot in Jalan Tepi Sungai. — Photos: K.K. SHAM/The Star

ABANDONED vehicles that have been left indiscriminately in various parts of Klang are affecting the royal town’s image.

Klang Municipal Council (MPK), in an effort to clean up the town, are removing abandoned cars from backlanes, public carparks and vacant lands in housing and industrial areas.

In the past six months, the council’s enforcement team has towed 420 vehicles from various parts of Klang.

As a result, the MPK depot in Jalan Tepi Sungai was overloaded and the council was finding it difficult to accommodate more vehicles.

To solve this issue, MPK decided to dispose of the vehicles as scrap metal.

The depot is fast running out of space.

Its president Datuk Mohd Yasid Bidin said the council had called for an open tender and the job was awarded to T.S.A Kuttiappan Chettiar and Brothers, from Alor Setar, at RM101,000.

“The tender is to dispose 240 vehicles including cars, vans, trucks and motorcycles,” he said.

T.S.A Kuttiappan Chettiar and Brothers manager N. Karthikeyan said the company won the tender in mid-December last year.

 

Karthikeyan says the company has removed some 90 vehicles from the yard so far and the rest will be cleared by end of the month.

Karthikeyan said recyclable parts such as tyres, car seats and other plastic items would be removed from the vehicles before they were taken out of the yard.

“We have removed some 90 vehicles from the yard so far and the rest will be cleared by end of the month,” he said, adding that the rainy weather had made it difficult for workers to carry out dismantling works.

An abandoned car being loaded into a truck at the depot

Mohd Yasid said the council would call for another open tender to get rid of the remaining 180 abandoned vehicles from the depot.

He added that the council was also in the process of getting clearance from the police to dispose of vehicles that were used to commit crimes.

Removing an abandoned vehicle from a particular area involves a lengthy process.

Mohd Yasid said a notice to remove the vehicle within 14 days would be left on the vehicle before the council went ahead with other procedures.

“We will conduct a search with the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to verify the owner’s particulars based on the registration number.

The recyclable parts which have been dismantled from the abandoned vehicles.

“The vehicle registration number will be also sent to police to get clearance to tow the vehicle to the council’s depot,” he said.

He said MPK’s operation to retrieve abandoned vehicles would continue until the streets were completely cleared.

“The vehicles are a major eyesore as some have been left unattended for decades and are in deplorable condition.

“Some of these cars were damaged in an accident while others were just abandoned,” Mohd Yasid said, adding that some vehicles had been stripped off its parts and accessories.

They were also a health hazard as the council president revealed that health enforcement officers had found Aedes larvae in pools of water in abandoned vehicles.

Abandoned vehicles are an eyesore in Klang. — filepic

Meanwhile, the Shah Alam City Coucil recorded 193 abandoned vehicles in 2016 and 208 vehicles in 2017 in its yard while the Sepang Municipal Council had in its yard, 149 vehicles stored in its premises in 2016 and 113 in 2017.

Over at the Subang Jaya Municipal Council, 768 vehicles were recorded at its yard in 2016 and 874 in 2017.