Wednesday September 5, 2012

City Hall ready to clamp down on KL nightspots

By JASTIN AHMAD TARMIZI
jastin@thestar.com.my

KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will start taking action this week against nightclubs and pubs around the city centre that do not have proper licences and those operating beyond the permitted time.

Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said City Hall would carry out joint operations with the police on Fridays and Saturdays.

The move follows after a recent incident where two bouncers from the Madurai pub in Jalan Doraisamy were shot dead during a brawl in the early morning of Aug 26.

Saravanan said although some of the premises did have licences to operate, many of them were operating beyond the permitted operating hours.

“It is a problem as there are too many pubs and nightclubs operating beyond permitted hours or operating without proper licences in Kuala Lumpur. We are not against the nightclubs or pubs, especially those with proper licences but they should operate within the given time.

“In the shooting case, the youths were shot at 4.30am which was way after the permitted time as the pubs and nightclubs were supposed to close at 3am. This shows that these pubs are operating on extended hours,” he said.

“DBKL would start monitoring Jalan Doraisamy and Changkat Bukit Bintang. In these two areas alone there 16 outlets — two in Jalan Doraisamy and 14 in Changkat Bukit Bintang — operating without licences,” he said.

“We will then continue to the rest of Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

“If we find that they do not have a proper licence, we will shut down their premises. If the nightclubs or pubs are found to be exceeding the given operating hours, we will give a notice and ensure that they cannot renew their licence in future,” he added.

Saravanan added that the pubs and nightclubs were also causing many other problems with patrons indiscriminately parking their cars resulting in traffic jams.

“We also urge the police to work with DBKL on this matter,” he added.

When asked whether there was a need to freeze the licences given out to nightclub or pub owners, Saravanan said DBKL would study the number of nightclubs and pubs in Kuala Lumpur as there were already a very high number in Kuala Lumpur.

“If we look at the number of clubs and nightclubs in major areas I feel that the number is already enough,” said Saravanan.