Collect deposits, MBPJ tells public

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THE Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) is urging individuals and companies to come forward to claim the more than RM14mil in uncollected deposits which have accumulated for more than 10 years.

MBPJ public relations officer Zainun Zakaria said the council had put up a notice on their website about a year ago to individuals and companies to collect their deposits.

The council requires deposits for services including licence application, house renovation, laying of pipes and cables as well as applications for planning approval.

According to the MBPJ website (www.mbpj.gov.my), those who want to collect their deposits have to produce the deposit receipt and their identification card.

Waiting their turn: Those with deposits with the Petaling Jaya City Council can collect their money by producing the original receipt and identification card.

In the event that the original receipt is missing, a letter of oath is required.

The list of individuals and companies who have not collected their deposits between 1993 and 1999 was published on the website.

Some of the deposits were for amounts between RM50 and RM120 paid by individuals.

The bigger amounts of between RM1,000 and RM5,000 are mostly deposited by developers and construction companies.

More surprising is that there were many developers and construction companies that have not collected deposits of more than RM10,000 each.

Developers are usually required to deposit an amount with the council before starting earthwork and have the money refunded once their project is completed and Certificate of Fitness (CF) issued.

One developer said the company’s management would have to monitor their projects to ensure that all deposits are taken back after completion.

Another developer said the project manager might have forgotten to claim the deposit or had left the company before the project was completed.

Zainun said many people did not bother to collect smaller amounts like below RM100 while some would have lost the receipts and did not want to go through the bureaucratic process of getting their money back.

She said all uncollected money would eventually be handed over to the Accountant-General’s Department.

“We are still giving some time for people to come forward to collect their deposits.

“After we have handed over the money to the department, they would have to collect it from the Accountant-General,” she said.