Maimunah (right) chatting with city councillors after tabling the 2018 budget at a full council meeting in Penang.

WORKING towards a smart and safe city, the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has tabled a 2018 budget of RM606.53mil, which is a deficit of RM189.55mil against a revenue estimate of RM416.98mil.

The budget will be spent on an additional 150 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras with video analytic to control and supervise traffic enforcement, setting up flood sensors, air pollution index as well as phone application to disseminate information on traffic conditions.

Mayor Datuk Maimunah Mohd Sharif, who tabled the budget in a full council meeting, said the spending were strategically divided into management and development expenditure.

She said the budget themed ‘Sustainable, Inclusive and Resilient City’ would be categorised under five elements that were in line with the state’s vision.

The elements are cleaner (RM78.68mil), greener (RM16.37mil), safer (RM11.84mil), healthier (RM9.18mil) and better public amenities and infrastructure (RM166.44mil).

“We will allocate RM11.34mil to maintain the CCTVs and a drone unit.

“Besides striving for a smart city, the budget also emphasises on strengthening the urban cleaning services and preserving a clean and green environment to ensure the quality of community life.

“It also focusses on systematic traffic and stabilising the public safety,” she said at City Hall in George Town yesterday.

Maimunah said the council had set aside RM8.71mil to upgrade six wet markets on the island.

“We have also allocated RM1.02mil for disabled-friendly facilities and energy-saving and efficiency initiatives.

“Besides that, RM8.05mil will be used for the preparation of bicycle lanes, which include constructing, upgrading and maintaining the routes,” she said.

She added that the public spaces on the island would also see eight more neighbourhood parks and four pocket parks in line with the council’s vision of achieving Garden City status by 2020.

She also reminded taxpayers to settle their assessment as the council would continue to take proactive and holistic measures in its collection of non-tax revenues.