PETALING Jaya residents representatives feel that the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) 2010 draft budget could have been better prepared.
The MBPJ had on Oct 16 invited representatives from residents’ associations (RA) and NGOs to present the draft budget and to get their feedback.
Some residents felt that they did not have enough time to give their feedback on the budget.
Aman Suria RA chairman Wendy Chan said they were only informed a day before the event and that many residents did not even know about it.
Section 5 RA chairman Johan Tung Abdullah said that after the budget was presented, they only had about one and a half hours to give their feedback and suggestions.
“There are 24 zones so that doesn’t leave us with much time to give our feedback,” said Johan.
Chan also said that residents should be consulted before the budget was drawn up.
“Even though we gave our comments, we don’t know if the council would take them into consideration and make the changes before it is finalised,” she said.
All Petaling Jaya Residents Association chairman Liew Wei Beng welcomed the format change for the budget, where there is a division by zones.
“For many years, we have been asking for the budget requirements for each zone to be tabled separately so it is good that they have done so this time,” said Liew.
However, he said that some zones have good projects put in but some zones had nothing.
“Is it because there is no Residents Representative Committee in that zone? Or is it just that the councillors are not communicating with their residents and getting the necessary feedback on what their needs are?” asked Liew.
Section 12 RA chairman R. Rajasoorian said that there were not much provision for his area.
He said that the RM2.3mil allocated to upgrade the pavements along Jalan Kemajuan (Jalan 12/8) was done for the benefit of the intended development of Section 13.
“Why are they spending so much money on upgrading the pavements? The developers who would be building in Section 13 should be contributing to the upgrading works of the pavements and roads,” said Rajasoorian.
He also said that some of the money should instead be spent on upgrading the parking facilities and backlanes in the Section 11 and Section 12 commercial area, which were in a bad condition.
Johan said that there were many inconsistencies in the budget and it was unprofessionally prepared.
“It is supposed to be a new government with a new set of councillors but the budget is not consistent with the government’s concept of competency, accountability and transparency,” he said.
A discrepancy that Johan pointed out was a total RM5.1mil reduction in non-tax revenue, with no explanation given for the reduction.
“There is a RM2.7mil reduction in revenue from trade business licences for 2010 but we were not told why. “Then there is another RM2.2mil revenue reduction from permanent advertising licences.
“The council was supposed to make additional income from the billboards so why is there a reduction in revenue?” asked Johan.
It was announced last year that the income deficit from lowering assessment rates for condominium and high-rise units would be offset by an estimated RM6.48mil from the rental of billboard sites.
Liew also pointed out that the council was planning to buy two outrider motorbikes at RM80,000 each, which he felt was a waste of money.
Some of the other discrepancies that Johan pointed out were:
·A RM401,000 (72.87%) decrease in environmental health department compound collections
·A RM13mil (5.79%) increase in administration expenses
·Zero payment received for road maintenance grants, compared to RM4.6mil in 2009
·In these hard economic times, there was an increase of RM5.2mil (9.07%) budgeted for emoluments
·An additional RM600,000 to construct the mayor’s official residence, with RM900,000 budgeted for 2009 still unused.
·RM2.9mil for safety services (who were this services for?)
·50 units of firearms at RM5,000 each (why does the council need firearms?)
·A RM1mil “Miscellaneous Expenses for mayor”
“We get the feeling that these numbers were just plucked out of thin air and not carefully worked out,” Johan said.
He added that under Zone 12, (Section 5 and Section 10) the more than RM800,000 allocated to upgrade the Taman Jaya park was too generous.
The budget would be tabled at the MBPJ full board meeting today.
No comments:
Post a Comment