GEORGE TOWN: Penang MCA has taken the authorities to task over the management of public parking which has come to a stalemate after the Penang High Court stopped the local council from terminating the concessionaire.

Its Public Services and Complaints bureau deputy chief Tan Eng Hin said there was a lot of confusion after Penang Island City Council (MBPP) announced its decision to terminate the services of parking concessionaire Perkhidmatan Alam Indah Sdn Bhd for failing to pay its monthly payment which comes to more than RM6mil.

However, business is apparently as usual for Alam Indah which responded during a press conference on Friday that they have managed to obtain an injunction from a High Court to stop MBPP from terminating its services. Hence, they will continue providing the parking system management services in the island.

“We have people calling up to complain that they are not satisfied with the parking situation.

“It might not be a big sum for some but many of the agents are actually small-time traders and even old people,” he told a press conference yesterday.

Tan also questioned how the state government was planning to recover the substantial RM6mil sum owed by Perkhidmatan Alam Indah which was accumulated over the last three years.

Tan Yang Pang, private secretary to Penang MCA chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng, also urged the state government to come up with an arrangement for the unused coupons as many would not dare to purchase the coupons while the issue was pending.

It was reported that MBPP Treasury director Suhaida Kamalul Ariffin said the council had stopped the sale of its new parking coupons.

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

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 had failed to pay its monthly payments since 2015 despite being issued notices. She said the parking coupons of the concessionaire could still be used till year-end.

-The STAR-