KUCHING: It is not safe to park vehicles at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar public car park due to the high risk of car break-ins.
DROP OFF POINT: This is as far as some unauthorized vehicles can go as dropping off or picking up of friends and relatives is a luxury no more.
This was the concern expressed by the public and junior government staff, who now have to park their vehicles at the public car park.
A government servant, Felyciana Samuel, said car break-ins occur almost every month there.
“If they want us to park our vehicles outside, improve the security including installing more CCTVs or at least get more security guards at the place,” she said.
A member of the public, Irwin Cartland, said more security personnel should be stationed at the public parking areas as more vehicles would be parked there soon.
This view was also echoed by Zaiwin Kassim, 29, who operates a workshop in Pending.
“As long as there are enough public parking bays, it’s fine with me. The talk of building a multi-storeyed car park can come later. The priority is reinforcing the security of the place,” he said.
They were all commenting on the move to restrict parking spaces in the vicinity of the federal complex – Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and nearby Tun Datuk Patinggi Tuanku Haji Bujang building – to senior officers only.
This new ruling, which takes effect this Thursday, would affect the junior government officers as they now have to vie for places at the public car park.
Another junior government staff Adeline Wilfred said the parking system inside the building should be made available to all government staff on a ‘first come, first serve basis’ as an incentive to come early for work.
She nonetheless believed the authority in-charge of the building have good reasons to come up with this ruling.
“We understand the congestion problem here and that’s why we don’t mind to park outside,” she said.
However, another member of the public, financial analyst Lesley Sebastian, 29, said parking bays in the vicinity of the complex should be given to the public as priority as they are the clients of the federal government agencies.
“All the government staff be they senior or junior rank should park outside instead as most would park their car the whole day whereas the public come and go.
“So, it doesn’t matter where the staff park their car. The cars won’t be moving until 4pm at the earliest,” he said.
Meanwhile, a senior communication officer for the state Federal Secretary’s office said that both the Sultan Iskandar and the nearby Tun Datuk Patinggi Tuanku Haji Bujang building currently only have 737 available parking spaces combined.
“With about 2,300 government staff from 29 departments, obviously the parking bays are never enough.
“Putrajaya also suffered the same problem and they too implemented the same ruling. However, for them only those with a high ranking of N48 and above were allowed to enter.
“Here, the complex has no choice but to implement the same ruling. We have to adapt to this ruling and please bear with the complications caused,” he said.
The officer also mentioned that a press conference would be held on Thursday at the state’s Federal Secretary office for explanations on the issue.
Come Thursday, entry to the federal complex will require pass or stickers.
These are divided into four coloured categories namely; Orange – full access for ‘QSG’ and ‘SG’ plate vehicles; Green – allowed entry and parking for N27 and above grade officers; Red – no entry and only limited to outside parking for grade N26 and lower grade officers and Blue – for motorcycle only.