SHAH ALAM: KDEB Waste Management has come under scrutiny after it was revealed to have amassed 22,017 Road Transport Department (JPJ) summonses, prompting the company to tighten its grip on subcontractors and improve monitoring systems.
KDEB Waste Management managing director Datuk Ramli Mohd Tahir however said that checks with the JPJ MySikap website found KDEB only had 14,343 active unpaid summonses.
He explained that the current agreements it has with subcontractors led to summonses issued to KDEB vehicle drivers – who are hired by subcontractors – to be directed to KDEB itself.
Unlike most other state waste management services, he said KDEB owns all 1,540 vehicles currently in use by subcontractors based on a company mandate when it was formed as a subsidiary of the Selangor government.
“We are responsible for any manufacturing defects on the vehicle but vehicle maintenance and fixing wear-and-tear is the responsibility of the subcontractors as per our agreement with them.
“This combined with poor communication of JPJ summonses when they occur between both the vehicle drivers and subcontractors, as well as between the subcontractors and KDEB, has resulted in many summonses going missing-in-action, leaving us in the dark.
“The plan now is to review existing clauses in our subcontractor contracts to be more stringent with increased penalties while improving KDEB’s own monitoring operations,” he said at a press conference yesterday.
Ramli said the changes could include increasing the frequency of KDEB’s checks on subcontractors for JPJ summonses from monthly to bi-weekly, as well as system improvements to better trace wrongdoings committed by subcontractor drivers.
He added that KDEB had paid RM2,378,205 for 23,218 JPJ summonses since August 2015, which include 1,237 summonses incurred in 2025 alone, amounting to RM146,890 as of Wednesday.
In response to KDEB, Loke said companies operating heavy vehicles must settle the outstanding fines of their drivers.
“This is because the permits to operate heavy vehicles are granted to the company, and not the drivers.
“A summons is a summons. The permit wasn’t granted to the driver. So, when the vehicle is fined, the owner of the vehicle and the permit has the responsibility.
“So, to me, that is their internal issue on how they want to handle their drivers,” he said during an event at KL Sentral yesterday.
