He said the guidelines, developed and tabled by the housing and local government ministry, will also be tabled at the National Council for Local Government in June before being implemented in July.
The guidelines, he said, would empower local authorities to dispose of abandoned vehicles within 33 days compared to one year before, based on the provisions of the Road Transport Bill (Amendment) 2018.
Speaking at a press conference after chairing the first meeting of the Transport Council here today, Loke said abandoned vehicles were one of the most common problems faced by the public and local authorities previously had no powers to move these vehicles.
“In the past, without guidelines, the local authorities did not have the power to deal with abandoned vehicles.
“The process is fairly long, namely 12 months, where local authorities need to move the vehicle, put them in the depot and find the owner prior to disposal,” he said.
Loke said the new guidelines would involve a car-handling process chart, starting with the car being towed away, search for the owner and disposing of the vehicle if the owner cannot be located.
“There is no charge borne by the owner. If there is an abandoned vehicle, it will be towed away and taken to the depot.
“From there, we will investigate who the owner is and the background of the vehicle. After obtaining the information, we will set up Asset Disposal Committees to make a decision to dispose of the car.
“The proceeds of the disposal, after deducting the costs incurred by the local authorities, will be kept for two years to enable the owner to make a claim.
“Owners can take the car before the disposal process,” he said, adding that the owner of the vehicle will be given 14 days’ notice to reclaim the towed vehicle.
Loke had previously said that there were over 60,000 abandoned vehicles still registered nationwide.
Loke said the cost of buying a tow truck was RM100,000 and there was the need to make payments for notice advertisements in the newspapers.
“The Petaling Jaya Municipal Council has spent RM564,000 to rent a large depot to store the abandoned vehicles while the Subang Jaya Municipal Council spends RM40,000 on advertising,” he added.