ALL Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) parking bays rented to business operators must be opened to the public after 6.30pm.

City council Treasury assistant accountant Zay Iskandar said the vehicle ramps placed over the bay at auto workshops must also be removed.

After visiting 15 shoplots during enforcement operations in SS21 Damansara Uptown, he said the ramps could not be a permanent fixture made of cement or premix, and that the metal ramps should be the removable type and that it could only be placed over the rented parking bays leading to the shoplot between 8am to 6.30pm from Monday to Friday.

“The parking bays must be vacated for public use after 6.30pm,” said Zay, adding that it was common for shop owners to violate the rules.

He said some shop owners paint red boxes over the council parking bays to show they have rented it.

“The city council has a record. We found a shop that faked the red marker on the parking bay.

“We told the shop owner to rent the bays or face serious implications such as revoking their business licence,” he said.

All vehicle ramps placed over rented MBPJ parking bays must be removed after 6.30pm in Petaling Jaya.

He added that the rental period of some of the bays had expired by over two years, but the shop owners continued hogging them.

Zay added that the public often complained on lack of city council parking bays, but many of them were taken up by the shopowners illegally.

During the operations in Damansara Uptown, they found some shopowners had painted over the yellow parking bays with black paint. This was to deceive the public into thinking that there were no parking bays available in front of the shop.

About 30 officers were part of the operations.

The monthly rental fee is RM400 for each bay for eateries and regular shops, while it is RM200 for each bay for auto workshops.