IPOH: The cleanliness level at most business premises here are better than those at other tourist spots, says Datuk Rumaizi Baharin.
The Ipoh Mayor, however, said they could still do better, so that the city can continue to be attractive for tourists.
"The overall (cleanliness) quality is better than most tourism spot clusters here.
"To compete with the rest, we need to be better," he said during a press conference after chairing the Ipoh City Council full board meeting here on Tuesday (Jan 31).
"I am confident that with the help of the respective associations, we can do better," he said.
With this year being Visit Ipoh Year 2023, Rumaizi said the city council would beef up its enforcement to ensure the respective premises are clean.
"If these places are not clean, people will not want to visit.
"We will enhance our enforcement activities, conducting random checks daily at premises near tourist spots," he said.
"We will provide advice first and will also take legal actions if need be.
"We do not want a situation where just because of one dirty premises, the matter goes viral and people say Ipoh is not clean," he added.
In his speech earlier, Rumaizi said the city council has inspected 1,208 eateries and 99% of these were given Grade A and B for their cleanliness last year.
These, he said, included 336 premises with Grade A (28%), 858 premises with Grade B (71%) and 14 premises with Grade C (1%).
As for the cleanliness of public toilets in restaurants and cafes, Rumaizi said 1,155 premises have been checked last year.
"All got Three Star ratings and above while six warning letters were issued to premises that failed to comply with the cleanliness standard," he said, adding that the Local Government Development Ministry wants all eateries to adhere to the "BMW" (Bersih, Menarik, Wangi) or Clean, Attractive and Pleasant Smelling standard.
