A PLAN for Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) to temporarily transfer 50 of its enforcement officers to the Selangor Intelligent Parking (SIP) programme is still being negotiated.

Petaling Jaya mayor Mohamad Zahri Samingon said these personnel were involved in other tasks, such as responding to disasters, aside from parking management.

The city council, he said, was also waiting to hear what its guaranteed income would be under the SIP.

“We are still in talks over these details,” the mayor told StarMetro after MBPJ’s full board meeting at its headquarters.

“We also want certainty over revenue that MBPJ will receive, which has to be what we are currently receiving from the parking system or more but not less.”

He said MBPJ had given its conditional backing to the Selangor government’s decision to privatise on-street parking across the state.

The move follows last month’s announcement by state local government and tourism committee chairman Datuk Ng Suee Lim, who revealed that a concession company would take over parking fee collection and enforcement in four Selangor local councils from today.

On a separate issue, Mohamad Zahri said MBPJ’s Engineering team was conducting its own Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) on the closure of Jalan Tanjung, off Lebuh Bandar Utama.

The road was ordered to be permanently closed from July 25, following a court order.

Mohamad Zahri said Works Ministry, through the minister, had the power to request roads to be opened if it was deemed necessary for public use. However, it must be backed with evidence.

Residents from areas such as Tropicana, who previously used the road daily, want the road reopened.

The closure, they said, would cause traffic snarls in existing alternative routes.

Mohamad Zahri said traffic in the area was currently under control with the help of traffic police.

The Malaysian Highway Authority had said during a recent town hall meeting that Jalan Tanjung was initially a temporary road built in 1991 on North Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE) road reserve.

It was to facilitate construction of a half-diamond junction and was intended to be closed once construction works completed.