The question of who do motorists pay for public parking on the island is not resolved yet because the Penang High Court has stopped Penang Island City Council (MBPP) from terminating the concessionaire.

Perkhidmatan Alam Indah Sdn Bhd obtained an injunction to stop MBPP from terminating its services on Wednesday.

Its general manager Junid Abdussalam (pic) said his company’s Parking System Management Agreement, therefore, remained in effect.

“We shall continue providing the parking system management services on Penang island,” he told a press conference at his office in Hutton Lane yesterday.

He also said the injunction meant any other parking coupon or monthly passes besides those issued by Perkhidmatan Alam Indah would be invalid on the island.

“The public can only use the coupons and monthly passes sold by our agents.

“Otherwise it shall be a breach of the court order and we will not hesitate to take committal proceedings,” he added.

He said on Wednesday, although MBPP was served with the notice of the injunction application, its officers did not appear in court.

When asked about the over RM6mil in arrears that the council wanted from Perkhidmatan Alam Indah, Junid stressed that the amount was supposed to be about RM4mil.

“In the affidavit they issued to us, the amount mentioned was about RM4mil. I don’t know where the RM6mil figure came from,” he said.

He added that the company did not intend to owe the council and they tried to communicate with MBPP but did not get any response.

“We are not refusing to pay but there were some things we faced, such as the drop in sales after the change in parking hours since last July, which was not in accordance with our agreement.

“We tried to talk to the council but things did not turn out as we expected. We were surprised by the termination. We only had 24 hours’ notice before the announcement,” he said.

Perkhidmatan Alam Indah was awarded the contract in January 2014, and the contract was supposed to end this May.

Former MBPP mayor Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif announced the termination on Tuesday on grounds that the concessionaire failed to pay its monthly payments since 2015 despite being issued notices.

She said while the parking coupons of the concessionaire could still be used till year-end, the council started selling its new parking coupons from Tuesday.

However, MBPP Treasury director Suhaida Kamalul Ariffin said the council stopped the sale of its new parking coupons yesterday.

She urged those who had bought the new coupons to keep them until further announcements.

In a press conference, Penang Gerakan Datuk Keramat coordinator Lee Boon Ten urged state Local Government Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow to take immediate action against Perkhidmatan Alam Indah and outline the action to be taken to recover the outstanding debt

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by Crystal Chiam Shiying

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