A bulk of the budget for the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Federal Territories Ministry next year will be spent on maintaining and upgrading existing public amenities, said Federal Territories Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin.
He said projects and programmes held by the City Hall and the ministry like the open house would be more moderate due to a slash in the budget in view of the economic downturn.
“The people will need to understand that not all our programmes will be conducted on a big scale. However, we will focus on the public’s needs,” he said this during a Hari Raya open house held at Titiwangsa Stadium yesterday.
Nong Chik said they would concentrate on maintenance for public flats and other amenities.
He added that they would be more prudent next year to ensure money was spent more wisely. He also said the development sector would be one of the sectors affected by the budget slash.
“Some projects will be delayed and we will look at operating expenditure which increases every year by 10% or more,” Nong Chik added.
“KL has a great possibility to work with the private sector and to make it a world-class city,” Nong Chik added.
He urged the various ministries to be creative in finding measures to increase their income, and that the ministries with good ideas were eligible to receive part of the income.
During the open house, Nong Chik also handed out the ISO certificates to 28 departments in the DBKL.
KL mayor Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail, who was present, said DBKL was one of the local councils that had the highest number of departments receiving the ISO.
Fuad also commented on queries of the safety level of buildings in KL after the recent earthquakes in Sumatra.
“We received a number of complaints. However, checks made by the fire department and myself confirmed there are no real dangers,” he said,
Fuad added that the main structure and the piling were not affected by the tremors.
However, he urged consultants to be conservative and add more safety elements while piling.
A total of 5,000 employees from the DBKL and the FT Ministry were present at the open house.
Deputy Federal Territories Minister Datuk M. Saravanan was also present at the event.
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