OPERATORS and owners of kindergartens, nurseries and children centres in Kajang have been briefed on the proper procedures to run their establishments. Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) deputy president Najmuddin Jemain said the town hall session was held following complaints by some pertaining to licence approvals. “A kindergarten operator said he faced problems when renewing his business licence as he had failed to settle some summonses. “Through this session, we hope to provide clearer guidelines to operators and owners of kindergartens, childcare centres and daycare centres under MPKj’s administration,” he said. Between 2018 and 2019, he said MPKj recorded 712 submissions by kindergartens and nurseries for procedure applications, change in building use, building plan approval and business licence approval. Of that number, 459 were from kindergartens and children centres, 250 from nurseries and three from homes for orphans or the underprivileged. “For a business institution to license its operations, in this case kindergartens, nurseries and children centres, the operators or owners have to submit applications for change in building use, undergo the necessary processes and procedures to get the building plan approval as well as apply for a business licence,” said Najmuddin. “Some kindergartens and nurseries received conditional licence approvals due to the fact that there are extensions or modifications to their building, such as the interior, front awning, side or backyard. “There are cases of kindergartens and nurseries receiving building plan approval, but upon inspection by MPKj officers later, found to have deviated from the original plan,” he said. Only 335 of 623 applications submitted by kindergartens and nurseries for change in building use were approved by the Development Planning Department last year, as the rest did not adhere to the council’s requirements. “We hope all attendees today will review the guidelines and revise their applications, if necessary, in order to get the necessary approvals from us,” said Najmuddin. The session which was held at Dewan Seri Cempaka MPKj in Taman Saujana Impian, included a briefing on change in building use by Development Planning Department director Datuk Nizam Sahari, building plan procedure and approval process by Building Control Department director Dr Ahmad Sairi as well as licence application procedure and approval process by Licensing and Hawkers Department senior administrative officer Siti Wahayu Abd Wahab. The event ended with a question -and-answer session. — By JADE CHAN