Fuad reflects on changes in the city after taking over as mayor in 2008

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KUALA LUMPUR mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail marked his third year in office on Dec 14 by pledging to turn the city into a business-friendly environment.

The mayor said one of the main challenges during his three years in office was managing the rising expectations of KL residents and the demand from developers.

“We have so many ‘customers’ and we have to give them good services. We have high expectations of our own as we want to achieve a world-class city status. However, people’s expectations are rising which is why we have to work towards it,” he told StarMetro.

Fuad said there were also demands from the private sector, especially those who wanted more development in the capital.

“We also have to be business-friendly. Some people may not want development, but, if there is no development, there is no income. We need development to improve the quality of living of the people with more jobs created.

Tasks ahead: Fuad showing a 10-year plan DBKL has for the city.

“The role of Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is to balance the two. That is our major challenge. We have to continue developing KL and we have to have better planning,” he said.

He added that he was proud to be able to transform and revamp DBKL’s financial management over the past three years.

“The financial situation was bad at that time. DBKL was going through a big deficit for the past seven to eight years before I took over and we did not have much funds. The budget at that time was about RM2.2bil, with a revenue of only a little more than RM1bil.

“We had to solve the problem and changed the way we used funds, to cut cost,” said Fuad.

He said another achievement he was proud of was transforming of the 122-year-old Lake Gardens and renaming the park Perdana Botanical Garden.

The rebranding of the Lake Gardens was part of the city’s greening initiative under the Greening KL and River of Life projects.

“At that time, the Lake Gardens was losing its lustre and the Government wanted us to do something as there were not many visitors.

“We managed to show that we can do a good job. Now there are many couples taking their wedding photos at the park, more joggers in the morning and it has become a tourist attraction,” he said of the project which is now under the second phase of the RM35mil redevelopment programme.

“My vision is to see Kuala Lumpur become a developed world-class city with excellent living and working conditions, great service, comfortable and most importantly a safe one for its residents,’’ he said, adding that their goal was to be among the top 20 most livable cities by 2020.

“We have eight years to go before becoming a developed nation,” he added.

Fuad, 59, comes with more than 30 years’ experience in government with seven as the head of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council.

He hails from Kedah and holds a Bachelor of Arts (History) from Universiti Malaya and a Masters degree in Public International Affairs from the University of Denver, US.

Fuad has served with the Public Services Department for six years before taking over as Penang Development Corporation general manager in 2003.

He was appointed Housing and Local Government Ministry secretary-general in 2006 before taking over as Kuala Lumpur mayor from Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan on Dec 14, 2008.