KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Those renting reserved parking bays in front of their premises from Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will face action from the local council if they refuse to adhere to the designated hours.

Economic Planning and Development Department director Azmi Abdul Hamid said the bays are only rented to them from 7.30am to 6pm from Mondays to Saturdays.

"After 6pm daily, Sundays and public holidays the bays are open to the public,” he told Malay Mail recently.

Azmi said there have been many complaints received from the public about these reserved parking bays with red lines locked with a pole beyond the time frame.

He said as a start all car park tenants will be sent a notice to remind them of the valid times as this was not enforced before.

DBKL will first issue a notice to warn them  and the next step will be to not renew their tenure which is due every three months.

"There will never be enough parking and the idea is to not create more available parking so people will take public transport. But for this, we have to ensure there is fair enforcement,” he said.

He said DBKL is in discussion with Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan (YWP) who has been managing the city’s parking on their behalf since 2016.

YWP is in partnership with Vista Summerose Sdn Bhd on the advanced car park system called the City Car Park System that assists with enforcement and collection of parking fees.

Azmi said there are 3,883 parking bays in the city leased out for RM400 per month in the central business district (CBD) while the ones outside the city centre are between RM215 and  RM240.

He said those parking bays are rented out under strict conditions set by DBKL depending on the nature of business eg banks (security vehicles), clinics (medical emergencies), etc.

"It is not supposed to be an individual’s designated parking for their private convenience,” he said, adding there are  policies set by DBKL to address the issue.

He also said many reserved parking bay tenants complain that if they don’t block the bays after business hours the next day when they come, the reserved bays are occupied.

" We have a few times got the tow trucks to tow the vehicles away. But they have to adhere to the law, it’s for official operating hours only,” said Azmi.

Commenting on business owners who block parking bays outside their premises for their own use, Azmi said enforcement would be carried out continuously.

"The enforcement team has disposed of all sorts of items like car tyres, bins, broken furniture that were used to block the parking bays but it is back to square one days later,” he said.

He stressed that DBKL and YWP will not stop taking action weekly despite that.

Azmi said several owners have been fined RM 500 by DBKL under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 for obstruction.