Monday February 6, 2012

Insufficient funds for Hulu Selangor District Council HQ to move to Rawang

By STUART MICHAEL
metro@thestar.com.my

THERE are no plans to move the Hulu Selangor District Council (MDHS) head office in Kuala Kubu Baru to Bukit Beruntung located in Rawang.

MDHS president Tukiman Nail said there was a design proposal for the building costing about RM20mil several years ago but the council did not have the budget for it.

“The cost to build a new building would have risen to RM30mil by now and we still do not have the funds.

“However, if the state allocates a budget and builds the new building for us, we will definitely move there,” said Tukiman during the MDHS full board meeting in Kuala Kubu Baru.

On other matters, he said that about 60% of the assessment collected from ratepayers were from the surrounding areas in Bukit Beruntung.

Those areas included Bukit Sentosa, Prima Beruntung, Lembah Beringin and Bandar Sungai Buaya.

When asked whether there would be a payment counter in Bukit Sentosa, Tukiman said the council was working to having a payment counter set up by June.

He added that these counters would also accept payments for other services like advertisements, business advertisements and summonses.

On another note, Tukiman said that the council was very strict about businesses placing banners, posters, pamphlets and stick-on advertisements around Bukit Beruntung and Bukit Sentosa without the council’s approval.

“We will take legal action against those who continue to place advertisements without getting approval from the council and paying the required fees,” he said.

Tukiman said the council had taken not of complaints about the existing dumpsite in Bukit Beruntung.

According to him, the dumpsite there would reach its full capacity within the next two years.

He said for now, the council will use the existing dumpsite in Sungai Sabai, Kalumpang, to dispose of rubbish from Hulu Selangor.

“MDHS is one of the few councils in Selangor to use our own garbage lorries to collect rubbish and we are only utilising about 40% of the annual assessment, which is RM54mil, for rubbish disposal.

“Other councils sometimes use 60% of the assessment collected to pay contractors to collect rubbish,” he said.

On the issue of land owners in Lembah Beringin complaining about the area not being well maintained by the council, Tukiman said the MDHS had already carried out the first phase of a clean-up in the area.

He also said the council was willing to work hand-in-hand with the land owners on the other issues in their area.

“The second phase of the clean-up will be carried out next month.

“There are still problems like streetlights, cables and Syabas water supply equipment being vandalised.

“We hope that after we have done the clean-up, residents would move into the area and start staying there,” Tukiman said.