Time to fix the capital city

Buildings in KL flying the FT flag in celebration of the upcoming FT day. —AZMAN GHANI/The Star

THERE will be no new skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur for at least the next five years or if this unity government lasts that long.

At least that is my take from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement this week on not leaving landmarks behind as a legacy of his administration.

Instead, he said his priority is to develop strong and sustainable policies and to ensure that the government spends wisely to help Malaysians and small businesses thrive in a tough economic environment.

“I feel there are enough landmarks in Kuala Lumpur like the Twin Towers, TRX and Telekom Tower.

“Under the Anwar administration, I have no wish to add to these landmarks and I am not planning to compete with them,” he said.

Well, that’s fine by me. So, if we’re not going to be looking up, let’s start by looking down. It’s about time the unity government has its eyes on the ground, specifically at Kuala Lumpur which will be celebrating its 49th anniversary on Feb 1.

Our capital city today is beset with various issues like a lack of cleanliness, pot-holed roads and poor public transportation.

For the longest time, we have always had this problem – first world infrastructure, third world mentality. This mentality comes from the fact that our maintenance culture is so poor and there must be better improvements.

Let’s start with roadside hawkers. If you live and work in KL, there’s no escaping these stalls. They are everywhere – pavements, road reserves and even on five-foot ways.

It should be noted that DBKL initiated a Free Trade Zone under the Wilayah Prihatin programme for hawkers on Nov 10, 2020, during the movement control order (MCO) to alleviate the hardship faced by those who lost their jobs.

Suitable sites were identified so mobile traders could operate from roadside stalls with canopies, food trucks and tricycles, but they had to clear the site at the end of the day. Under the programme, over 5,000 licences were approved in all three federal territories.

But it’s been more than two years now and the MCO has long been abolished. And DBKL has continued to extend temporary licences to these roadside traders repeatedly. The last extension was from June 30 last year to Dec 31, 2022.

As of now, we haven’t heard a word from the local authority regarding the status of these roadside traders.

When this “amnesty” programme was initiated, DBKL issued a statement to the effect that traders must adhere to guidelines and SOP. Traders were warned that strict enforcement would be carried out if licensing guidelines were infringed.

The reality is that there are just too many roadside traders that have sprouted up for enforcement to be effective.

The media has been inundated with complaints from the public about congestion and a general lack of cleanliness in areas where these roadside traders operate.

DBKL cannot ignore these social issues by continuing to extend temporary licence moratoriums indefinitely. These hawkers are a nuisance, but it would be wrong to eliminate their livelihood in these tough times.

The solution would be to relocate them to designated food courts or food truck locations. Removing these temporary stalls from our streets will go a long way in improving the general cleanliness and hygiene. Food scraps left after stalls are shut inevitably lead to vermin infestation.

Since forming his government, the Prime Minister has already met with the Datuk Bandar twice in the space of two months.

For starters, it is reliably learnt that the PM will take over the controversial Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan or Federal Territories Foundation which in the past had the FT minister as its chair.

Ostensibly created as the welfare arm of DBKL, the foundation instead become the property developing arm of the local authority. It is a conflict of interest for DBKL to be involved in the business of property development, especially so when they themselves are the approving authority for property projects.

My hope is that the Prime Minister stops the foundation’s involvement in business and instead uses a portion of the profits accrued from land deals and joint ventures to repair the numerous pot-holed roads in the city.

It’s a disgrace that our capital city is riddled with third world roads. Take, for example, Jalan Maarof in Bangsar. The entire 3km stretch borders on being dangerous to motorists, especially motorcyclists. Potholes are aplenty and repairs appear to have made the road even more dangerous.

This country already has a fair bit of good infrastructure, but it needs to be improved, upgraded, and strengthened.

The context is the fact that the national debt is at RM1.2 trillion. For a small trading nation like Malaysia, this is appalling. Hence, money should be judiciously spent to maintain and improve infrastructure instead of building new skyscrapers.

The Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Mahadi Che Ngah has the final say on this.

“In my two meetings with him, the PM made it very clear that we need to improve and strengthen our delivery to KL-ites.

“He has a vision for KL and it is our job to ensure that this is achieved.”