KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Motorists across five local councils in Selangor will be able to use their smartphones to pay for parking from Sunday.
The Smart Selangor Parking (SSP) app will be enabled for use in the Shah Alam city council, the Ampang Jaya, Kajang, Selayang and Sepang municipal councils.
Ng Sze Han, who chairs Selangor's local government, public transport and new village development committee, said the smartphone app is part of the state's measures to address traffic issues there.
“The app was developed as an integrated parking payment system that will eventually be used across all local councils,” he was quoted saying by local daily The Star.
There are 12 local councils, with the rest where the app will not yet be in use being the local authorities for Petaling Jaya, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat, Kuala Selangor, Sabak Bernam, Klang and Subang Jaya.
The Star said the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) wants to study the terms and conditions before approving the use of the smartphone parking app in the areas under the local council, with councillors reportedly worried over whether there would be a monopoly and whether the agreement may be unfair, with concerns also raised over the intellectual property rights of the parking system that was alleged to belong to one company.
Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU) managing director Dr Mohammad Fahmi Ngah reportedly expressed hope that the parking system will be integrated with other local authorities by 2019.
He said SSDU received a RM1 million grant to carry out a study on Selangor's parking system including for indoor parking lots, also noting the use of the smartphone app was provided free to the local councils.
“As far as we are concerned the method of procurement and evaluation was done based on procedures endorsed by the state government. This app is offered at no cost to the local authorities,” he said.
The smartphone app was reportedly developed by Leading Innovative Technologies and Systems Sdn Bhd in partnership with state-owned firm Selangor Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) through the latter's SSDU.
The parking app is available for free at the Apple App Store and Google Play.
Malay Mail's checks on Google Play showed the SSP app as being offered by MBI, with 5,000 downloads already since its release on April 4 this year.
The app, which comes in three languages of Bahasa Malaysia, English and Mandarin, is currently enabled only for the PJU5 area for a pilot run.
Motorists will have to sign up for a free account to use the app, which they will have to top up with prepaid credit to pay for parking and parking summons.
