A food operator is now renting this delivery riders’ rest stop.
SEVEN structures built as a rest stop for delivery riders in Ipoh, Perak, have been found to be underutilised lately due to a drop in their numbers.
To ensure Ipoh City Council (MBI)’s efforts in building the structures would not be in vain, mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin said the structures would now be repurposed to allow traders to operate there.
The structures, which were earlier fully run by MBI, will now be open to small business operators for a fee, he said.
He added that some of the rest stops had already been rented out to food operators.
One structure in Meru Raya is now used by a vendor selling breakfast dishes.
The other six rest stops are in Jelapang, Tasek, Ipoh Garden, Medan Gopeng, Station 18 and Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil.
They were built at a cost of about RM500,000.
Apart from the space for trading, the rest stops have toilets and a surau.
Rumaizi said the structures were built in 2021, during the Covid-19 movement control order, to enable delivery riders to take a break or pray at the surau.
“Operators who run the place now can even collect a fee to use the toilet,” he said, adding that the operators were also in charge of keeping the place clean.
“We will negotiate with interested operators to see how they can use the buildings.
“By doing so, we can also help traders earn a living,” Rumaizi said after chairing the MBI full board meeting.
He said the rest stops were underutilised due to the dwindling number of delivery riders.
“After the movement control order was no longer in effect and people could go out to eat, demand for the riders’ services dropped,” he said.
He, however, added that delivery riders could still use the rest stop even after it was offered to individual operators.
On a separate matter, Rumaizi said there had been a sharp increase in dengue cases in the city.
From January till October this year, 1,504 cases have been reported, compared to just 412 cases in the same period last year.
“We believe that the continuous rainfall has caused an increase in Aedes mosquitoes in the city,” said Rumaizi.
“There are 14 outbreak localities and three uncontrolled outbreak localities,” he said.
He added that five other places were deemed as hotspots.
Taman Cempaka has 24 cases while Bandar Baru Putra has 18, Taman Sinfar recorded 12, Medan Klebang Restu has eight cases and RPA 2, Ulu Kinta, recorded four cases.
Rumaizi urged residents to continue taking precautions and ensure there were no mosquito breeding grounds within or near their homes.
“Spend at least 10 minutes each week to search for and destroy these breeding grounds,” said the mayor.
