SEREMBAN, Aug 6 — The MAINS Bazaar managed by MAINS Holdings Sdn Bhd (MHSB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Negri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council (MAINS), has failed to achieve its rent collection target for three consecutive years.

According to Series 1 of the 2017 Auditor-General’s Report released today, the actual rent collection by the bazaar was RM0.19 million in 2015, RM0.15 million (2016) and RM0.07 million (2017), compared to the original targets of RM0.23 million (2015), RM0.17 million (2016) and RM0.09 million (2017) respectively.

An audit review of MHSB’s tenant records found that the failure to achieve the rental target was due to the fact that 49 out of the 137 premises or 35.8 per cent were vacant as the tenants had either shifted or closed shop or the shops had no tenants.

“Based on the audit analysis, the vacancy of 38 unrented units at Bazaar MAINS had financial implications on MAINS and MHSB whereby MAINS may have lost rental revenue totalling RM235,017 or 26.3 per cent,” the report said.

The loss caused MHSB to lose management fee income totalling RM11,751 or 15.1 per cent throughout the vacancy period.

A site visit found that the main cause of the vacancies was due to the lack of customers, as there was no diversity in terms of items being sold to attract visitors.

“The audit team was also informed by MHSB at the exit conference meeting on January 9, 2018, that in 2016, traders were directed to temporarily vacate the premises for repair work to take place, and after the repair works were done, there were traders who refused to return,” the report said.

Apart from that, the closure of the MAINS Bazaar’ s main entrance at 5pm every day to make way for the night market was also said to be one of the reasons it failed to attract tenants.

MHSB, in its response on January 17 and February 7, 2018, said it would make improvements to the marketing strategy and requested for an allocation from MAINS to conduct various programmes and activities to promote the bazaar.

The audit team, among other things, recommended MHSB to prepare models and strategies for transforming the MAINS Bazaar, such as appointing a dedicated operator to manage the bazaar and attract more visitors. — Bernama