Kepong MP: Eateries with parking lot dining have until February to remove tables

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng wants eateries to stop the practice of placing tables and chairs at parking lots by February next year.

Lim warned coffee shop owners that he will make another complaint to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to remove all the tables and chairs found hogging parking lots.

"Several coffee shop owners in Taman Usahawan, Kepong had appealed to me to continue with this roadside business until Chinese New Year next year.

"However, this is wrong and they will be doing it at their own risk.

"I will highlight this issue to DBKL for enforcement to be taken and should the matter persist, I will ask the Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan, and the person in charge of enforcement to resign," he said during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (Nov 24).

On Nov 22, Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad urged Lim to lodge an official report on his allegations that some DBKL officers were taking bribes from eateries which had been placing tables and chairs on parking lots and sidewalks.

Khalid added that the report must be substantiated with evidence.

"If he (Lim) or anyone else who has complaints about such allegations of corruption, but have no trust in DBKL, they can lodge a complaint directly with the deputy minister (Federal Territories), or with me or officers from the ministry,'' Khalid said.

Lim told Star Metro that he had recently lodged a complaint with DBKL of 10 coffee shops in the Metro Perdana commercial area in Kepong, Kuala Lumpur that had hijacked parking lots to place their tables and chairs.

Lim said that after lodging the complaint, DBKL enforcement had seized the tables and chairs of the outlet, but they were back in business the next day doing the same thing.

"So much so I just gave up and lost faith in DBKL,'' Lim told The Star.

"I was acting on complaints made by residents living in shop houses above the eateries who say that they have no place to park their cars at night,'' he said.

Lim said that Kepong is not the only area having this problem, and that hot spots of eateries hijacking parking lots are prevalent in Sri Petaling, Setapak, Jalan Kelang Lama and Brickfields.

He added that if this issue continue, it will create more opportunity for corruption and bribery.

"I'm not saying all the officers are the taking bribes but some of them are.

"This practice must be stopped and for DBKL guidelines to be followed as well as for the safety of the public," he said.

He was referring to the incident where the driver of a pick-up truck ploughed into a table at the open-air area of an eatery at Taman Equine in Serdang, killing a woman and injuring three others on Nov 18.

"I do not want this to happen in my constituency. If it happens, the driver, coffee shop owner and even DBKL will be held responsible," he said.

Lim also added that coffee shop owners can place tables and chairs on the sidewalk as long as it did not cause obstruction and inconvenience to the public.

"The parking lots are meant for the cars, not tables and chairs," he added.- Star