BY JADE CHAN

THE announcement of the Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) 2017 budget drew mixed reactions.

While Petaling Jaya assemblymen welcomed the additional expenditure for infrastructure projects, residents expressed concern about the lack of transparency and lack of priorities for high-impact projects.

Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain said RM139.89mil would be allocated for next year’s development expenditure, marking a 128% increase compared to the current budget.

Priority would be given to upgrading infrastructure and public facilities (RM48.96mil), upgrading landscape and recreational facilities (RM34.61mil), increasing the quality of city cleaning and health services (RM74.13mil), and improving safety as well as social aspects (RM5.9mil).

As next year’s budget is expected to have a RM84.4mil deficit, Mohd Azizi said the council would tap into its reserves to cover the deficit.

However, the council has yet to post a copy of its 2017 budget online for public viewing, despite Mohd Azizi’s assurance that it would be done by late November once the state government has approved the council’s budget.

The My Petaling Jaya community felt that there was a need to adjust the allocation and focus on projects that would directly benefit the people, such as those that addressed safety and security concerns.

The group also said there was a need for better accountability and transparency in the preparation, monitoring and implementation of MBPJ’s budget, as the council did not have a budget calendar and had a poor track record in its spending.

A couple of Petaling Jaya assemblymen noted on the need for monitoring and progress reports, especially for projects that involved large sums of money, as well as MBPJ’s quality of delivery for projects.

“While it is commendable for MBPJ to have such a huge budget increase to improve the city’s status, we as Petaling Jaya stakeholders have yet to see the council demonstrate their accountability, integrity and transparency,” said Taman Gasing Indah Rukun Tetangga chairman Eric Chew.

“For example, the specific BQ (bill of quantity) for development or contract projects for each zone or housing area should be displayed and made available on MBPJ’s website for public viewing.

“This will allow both the councillor and residents to know what is going on in their neighbourhood. They can also monitor the project’s details, expenditure and determine the value of its return on investment for the neighbourhood.”

As stakeholders, Chew said residents are often not consulted and have zero engagement with MBPJ.

“It’s pointless for MBPJ to claim the ‘inclusiveness’ theme, when there is hardly any evidence of the council having consultations with residents in their planning,” said Chew, in reference to the “PJ Sejahtera” (Prosperous PJ) 2017 budget theme.

“It’s ridiculous for MBPJ to claim that they have spent such a large budget, when we are completely clueless on the proper maintenance schedules and required SOP (standard operating procedure) for projects in our neighbourhoods.

“Sadly, councillors are also in the dark on MBPJ’s plans, as they are either unable to clearly explain the programmes or are late in informing us about council notices,” said Chew, who is also Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) Petaling Jaya District chairman.

Section 14 (Jalan 14/1-14/15) Residents Association (RA) chairman Selva Sugumaran Perumal urged the council to post its 2017 budget online as soon as possible.

“While we welcome the statement that the budget will be available for public viewing, we regret to note that once again this is a broken promise.

“We have a right to know how the money is spent, as this is the ratepayers’ money. We want to know the budget breakdown and details,” he said.

As the 2017 budget has already been presented and approved at the council level, Selva said the details should be made available to the public and ratepayers shouldn’t have to make an application through the Freedom of Informa-tion Enactment just to get access.

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Meanwhile, StarMetro also wrote a story on how MBPJ councillors spend their allocations, following a rejected request to increase the current RM100,000 per councillor allocation to RM200,000.

It was learnt that RM100,000 was adequate for less densely populated areas and more mature Petaling Jaya neighbourhoods.

However, councillors whose zones covered densely populated areas with numerous low-cost and affordable housing projects would usually need to apply for additional funds from the mayor’s allocation.

The councillors’ allocations are used for community events and minor infrastructure projects.