Petaling Jaya was declared a city today but for Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ), its first day as a city hall was dampened with a police report lodged against it for allegedly refusiing to provide answers to several issues raised by PJ residents.

The report was lodged at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters by the DAP Petaling Jaya Action Team led by its chairperson Lau Weng San.

In the report, Lau said MPPJ must provide a thorough and detailed explanation to PJ residents on the issues they had raised.

Among the issues are the 15-year concession given to Seni Jaya Sdn Bhd, the agreement between MPPJ and Poly Dimension Sdn Bhd to build overhead bridges and gantries along the Federal Highway in PJ as well as the reason for increasing assessment rates in PJ by 10 percent.

On the billboard advertising, Lau said it has always generated revenue for MPPJ, yet the residents were in the dark where the money was allocated and for what purpose.

He said on the building of overhead bridge in Seksyen 10, MPPJ must assure that all the plans which will be carried out by the Works Ministry must go through a public hearing before the permit is issued to carry out the construction.

Failure to explain

In a recent memorandum submitted to MPPJ, the All PJ Pro Action Committee (Appac) had demanded the council to reveal the accounts of the revenue derived from billboard advertising but it has failed to do so.

Furthermore, said Lau in the report, MPPJ has failed to explain, as requested by Appac, why the assessment rates were raised by 10 percent.

Meanwhile, DAP Bukit Gasing treasurer Thomas Goh noted that if there is a deficit in the MPPJ's income on the housing rates, the residents should be informed of it and the reasons why it came about.

Meanwhile, the Star had quoted MPPJ president Ahmad Termizi Puteh as saying in March that there was no necessity for the council to reveal their accounts to any party because MPPJ has its internal audit team tasked to check them.