Khalid (centre) flanked by Nor Hisham and Dr Tan at the press conference in Menara DBKL. — AZMAN GHANI/The Star
IT WILL be an eventful year for Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) with various international events set to take place in the capital city in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020).
In an effort to beef up its services, DBKL announced extra allocation to increase manpower and provide better service to city folk.
It also reviewed the mechanism to help bumiputra homebuyers secure their first house and service their loan.
Job seekers, small and medium contractors and first-time bumiputra homebuyers stand to benefit from the extra allocation.
Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad said the trickle-down effects from these initiatives would spur economic growth while helping to lighten the financial burden of the B40 and M40 groups.
Khalid said DBKL planned to fill 229 vacancies with a RM10mil allocation this year.
“There is a need to increase DBKL’s workforce to cater to the higher workload from the increased tourist arrivals due to the VM2020 campaign.
“There will also be other international events such as the Kuala Lumpur World Book Capital 2020 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit which will be held in the city, ” he said.
These vacancies would be filled with daily wage earners.
“Walk-in interview sessions will be held next week at Institut Latihan DBKL in Bandar Tun Razak.
“Interviews for candidates with PMR or PT3 qualifications will be held on Jan 21, and SPM on Jan 22 while candidates with a diploma could come on Jan 23, ” he said.
Graduates could apply for vacancies online at https://apps.dbkl.gov.my/epengambilan/
“Of the RM10mil allocation, RM4.3mil will be spent on hiring and the other RM5.7mil will be used to create jobs, ” Khalid said in a press conference that was also attended by mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan and Wangsa Maju MP Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew.
More small contractors would also benefit from a RM50mil fund that was set aside for awarding contracts this year.
He said the contracts are for maintenance and repair works in the city on electrical and mechanical aspects on public amenities and services.
Khalid said up to 250 contractors of the Class G1 would be awarded the contracts this year, with the value of each contract capped at RM200,000.
“The number of contractors to be awarded projects this year is higher compared to the 145 last year and 133 in 2018, ” said Khalid, adding that the contracts were also capped at RM200,000 then.
“We hope the increased amount for these contracts will help make the city cleaner and more beautiful, ” said Khalid.
He added that DBKL was also aware of the financial burden faced by first-time homebuyers, especially among the low- and middle-income bumiputra group to service their loans.
“An allocation of RM3.9mil was made to help qualified bumiputra applicants who needed help servicing their loans, ” he said.
Khalid added that bumiputra homebuyers whose loan applications had been approved would be eligible to apply for the assistance.
“The price of the house that they want to buy must not exceed RM300,000 and they would have to repay the amount owed within 10 years, ” said Khalid, adding that borrowers would not be charged interest.
He expected 130 homebuyers to benefit from this initiative, adding that applicants must also reside or work in Kuala Lumpur to qualify for the scheme.
Explaining on the origin of the fund, Khalid said it came from the collection of penalties imposed by DBKL on residential property developers who sold bumiputra lots to non-bumiputra over five years.
“Residential property developers in Kuala Lumpur were obliged to set aside a certain percentage of their units for bumiputra buyers.
“If they were unable to sell off the bumiputra lots, they could apply from DBKL to sell them to the non-bumiputra, provided they paid 5% of the unit’s price as a penalty to DBKL, ” said Khalid.
“Before this, the money was channelled into DBKL’s coffers. However, it was not appropriate to treat the penalties as we would any other monies for DBKL.
“After careful consideration, it was decided that the money accumulated would be better spent towards helping first-time bumiputra homebuyers to service their loans, ” said Khalid.
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