THE Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) has set aside RM125.91mil for development expenditure under its 2018 budget.

The amount is 2.7% less than the development expenditure for 2017, said Shah Alam mayor Datuk Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad after the budget meeting.

He explained that the lower amount did not mean less money would be spent on development.

‘We have funds from other allocations such as the Malaysian Road Record Information System (Marris) that will be used,” he said, adding RM62mil of Marris funds have been allocated to repair roads measuring a total of 1,996km.

The council had spent RM3.5mil over the past three years to overcome the flooding problem in Seksyen 25 and RM1.5mil would be allocated in next year’s budget.

Next year, MBSA estimates revenue of RM461mil and expenditure of RM484mil. The RM22mil budget deficit would be covered using the council’s reserve funds.

“The budget is just an estimation, just like 2016 was supposed to be a deficit budget but turned out to be a surplus one.

“We were able to save money via tender and other cost-cutting measures,” said Ahmad Zaharin.

A total of 74% of 2018’s budget will be spent on administrative expenditure, an increase of RM17.43mil or 5.1%.

Of the amount, RM251.41mil will be for services and supplies and RM135.55mil for maintenance and small repairs

The council will be spending RM8.5mil on information communication technology (ICT) services such as i-adu, a mobile app for the public to file complaints.

At the council’s monthly full board meeting later, it was announced that MBSA would be marking its 17th anniversary next month with a host of benefits for ratepayers.

These include a 50% discount on certain compounds throughout October, including those issued under the council’s 2005 vandalism bylaw, 2005 park bylaw, 2007 food establishment bylaw and 2007 advertisement bylaw.

Those with parking compounds will be given a RM30 discount.

For details, visit eps.mbsa.gov.my or call 03-5522 2882, 03-5510 5133 ext 1477, 1656, 1657, and 1658.

Other incentives include free usage of the Shah Alam aquatic centre on Oct 8 and extreme park in Seksyen 13 on Oct 10 as well as free parking on Oct 10 at Wisma MBSA and the Seksyen 19 KTM station.

There will also be events such as an eco market and car-free day on Oct 8 at Dataran Kemerdekaan Shah Alam and Shah Alam Trees for Life programme at the same venue on Oct 14.

For details, call 03-5510 5133.