DBKL workers are seen cleaning up Padang Merbok on September 16, 2015. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has suffered losses of RM28,137,507 due to rent arrears by tenants of its People’s Housing Project (PPR) and Public Housing (PA) units as at October 31 this year.

In a statement, DBKL said the amount involved 26,860 PPR and PA tenants who had failed to pay their monthly rent of RM124, which was significantly low compared to the management and maintenance costs borne by the city hall, estimated at RM300 per month for each PA and PPA unit.

Therefore, the DBKL also advised the tenants to settle the arrears immediately to ensure that their rental agreements will not be terminated.

If their tenancy agreements are terminated, the tenants would be asked to vacate their units, the statement said.

Meanwhile, DBKL Licencing and Hawkers Development Department director Anwar Mohd Zain in a press conference said that starting Jan 1, 2019, all applications for billboard and unipole advertising around the capital, would be implemented through open tender.

As such, he said the applications for new billboards and unipole advertising licenses would be suspended until next year.

Anwar said this was to ensure that DBKL revenue could also be collected through advertising licence fees and rental income.

“We hope with this move, DBKL revenue will see an increase of 15 per cent from next year,” he said.

In a separate statement, the city hall also announced that it would implement a change of traffic flow at Jalan Sultan Ismail/Jalan P.Ramlee intersection from Jalan Perak from 12.01am on Sunday.

All vehicles on Jalan P. Ramlee from Jalan Perak will be allowed to turn left and right to Jalan Sultan Ismail and continue towards Jalan Raja Chulan at the intersection.

The change is aimed to reduce traffic congestion during peak hours in major roads in the city centre area, especially in Bukit Bintang, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Jalan Raja Chulan and Jalan Imbi. — Bernama