He said the uninhibited use of the field had resulted in it often being damaged, thus incurring high repair and upgrade costs to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

“Now with the fence, I’m sure the maintenance of the field will be carried out effectively and anyone can make a booking to use it.

“Even when people want to enter, we can manage it well. If the field is damaged we will close it for a while to do the necessary repairs before reopening,” he told Bernama last night.

Yesterday, two Federal Territories MPs had reportedly asked for an explanation from DBKL regarding the permanent metal fence, which is about 1.5m high, that had been erected around Padang Merbok. They described it as sending the wrong signal to the people of Kuala Lumpur.

According to Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, the fence would be seen as preventing city folk from using public facilities for recreation as well as preventing them from gathering before walking to the parliament building to send a memorandum or during a protest.

Mahadi said the public is still allowed to use Padang Merbok with scheduled permission and a similar approach has also been implemented in several other areas for such a purpose.

He added that Padang Merbok, which also has drainage issues, is still undergoing upgrading works and has not yet been opened to the public.