Navigation nightmare: Many private vehicles seen parked on the roadsides outside PPR buildings in Kuala Lumpur. — Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: A large number of private vehicles and the lack of parking spaces at People’s Housing Projects (PPRs), low- and medium-cost stratified residential buildings in the capital city continue to cause distress to residents and members of the public.
Vehicles such as lorries, school buses, vans and cars parked haphazardly on the roadside and bus stops, hindering the movement of other vehicles passing the areas, are common in these neighbourhoods.
A check by Bernama at several buildings in Sentul, Setapak and Bandar Seri Permaisuri found that many residents are forced to park their vehicles on the main roads, narrowing the two-lane roadway.
Some abandoned vehicles are also left to decay there, exacerbating the situation.
Zolkhoari Abdul Aziz, a trader at Bandar Permaisuri Hawker Centre, said residents living nearby have occupied the parking lots designated for their customers.
He claimed that some residents have even claimed the lots as their own, sometimes leaving their vehicles there for weeks.
“There are 64 customer lots but nearby residents took over nearly all of them despite warning signs indicating that only customers can park here,” he said.
“This situation creates uneasiness among the customers. Some leave when they cannot find an empty spot after searching for a long time.
“This has affected the sales of the hawkers here,” he added.
A resident of Kampung Baru Air Panas PPR, who wanted to be known only as Ezana, 34, said she is living with her parents and another sibling and that it is more cost-effective and convenient for them to own a car each.
Saying they have to park quite a distance from their residential block at times, they face the risk of vandalism to their vehicles and instead choose to spend time looking for available parking spaces.
The online trader considered these constraints a common occurrence for those living in PPRs.
“A car is a necessity because the nature of my job requires me to move around and meet clients,” she said, adding public transport such as buses and e-hailing services is limiting and does not adhere to a fixed schedule at times.
According to Prof Madya Dr Mona Isa, a real estate studies senior lecturer at the Architecture, Planning and Surveying Faculty of Universiti Teknologi Mara, from her observation, there are more than two generations of residents living under one roof, contributing to the increase in vehicle ownership.
She said the original residents of the housing units have their adult children, who need a car to get around, adding in some instances, the children are married with children but forced to stay with their parents as they cannot afford to buy a house.
“As commonly known, each unit of PPR or stratified residential buildings is typically allocated with one or two parking spaces, but a unit may have more than two cars when there are several generations living together or if the unit is rented out,” she said.
Mona suggested Kuala Lumpur City Hall to consider building multi-storey car parks, besides enhancing the efficiency of public transportation to reduce dependence on private vehicles.
