He was responding to a remark by PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar yesterday, urging an increase in public transport capacity before a decision is made on the increase of parking rates in the city.
“This is infrastructure. It cannot happen tomorrow morning.
“It takes time to plan and these (including parking rate hike) are the interim measures that the authorities take to encourage people to move to public transport,” he said to FMT when contacted.
He noted that at least 2.4 million road users travel in and out of the city daily, which he said constituted a “huge number”.
“Kuala Lumpur is the nation’s capital and it is poised for further growth. If there are no stringent measures taken to reduce traffic, the roads will be blocked.”
Ajit also pointed out that parking rates were also increased because it had not been revised for many years.
“If parking fares are cheap, then why bother looking for alternatives?”
However, Ajit urged the government to reduce the cost of public transportation for at least one year in order to encourage greater use of public transport.
He also suggested that Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) lower rates for those parking at or near public amenities, such as hospitals, police stations and fire stations.
“Because, you don’t go there for a field trip.
These are areas where the public go to during emergencies. Therefore, DBKL should not profit from these places,” he said.
Ajit added that DBKL should implement stringent enforcement on yellow lines as it gives preferential treatment to public transportation, which in turn would see an increase in efficiency.
Yesterday, Nurul Izzah handed over a memorandum to DBKL outside its headquarters in Jalan Raja Laut, urging for an increase in public transportation capacity before hiking parking rates.
She also pointed out that it was “irrational” to expect people to pay the new high rate in parking fees when the parking machines only accepted coins.
Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor had recently said that the new parking rates in areas neighbouring the Central Business District (CBD) would be announced after a decision by the Cabinet.
Related story: Nurul: Increase public transport before hiking parking fee