This hall located in Jalan Sri Serawak 1 in Taman Sri Andalas, Klang is one of the halls that have not been taken over by the Klang Municipal Council.( The Star)
IT HAS been more than seven years since the call was made by the state government to “return” the management of all community halls in Selangor to the authorities; yet it still has not been done.
This is the dilemma faced by nine districts in Selangor where the community halls are still managed by political parties.
The problem faced by local governments is that the land the halls are located on belonged to the political parties.
In some cases, the cost of constructing the halls were borne by politicians and they are not willing to hand over the management of the halls to the state government.
A check with the local councils of Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Ampang Jaya and Kajang revealed that the community halls were handed over with special arrangements made with local community representatives through the Village Security and Development Committees (JKKK) and Resident’s Committee (JKP).
The impasse in Selayang with regards to the usage of community halls was partially resolved when the council and the Gombak Land Office worked out a compromise with some of the JKKK and JKP leaders to allow the public to utilise the halls.
There are still 11 halls in Selayang which have yet to be surrendered to the council.
In Klang, 15 community halls have yet to be handed over to the council.
The failure to surrender community halls built on state land was creating another problem — maintenance.
Most of these halls are in bad state making them unsuitable to be used for public functions.
A check by StarMetro in Taman Sri Andalas, Klang saw a community hall at Jalan Sri Siantan 36 with its roof damaged.
Another hall located at Jalan Sri Sedeli 4 looked like it had not been used for some time.
It had a ping-pong table and several tables stacked up at its premises.
At Jalan Sri Sarawak 1, also in Taman Sri Andalas, the gate of the community hall was locked up with the open-air badminton court left in bad state.
Subang Jaya Municipal Council president Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan said there were no issues regarding the handing over of community halls to the council.
“As Puchong and Subang Jaya are new townships compared to other local councils, the question of who owns the land where the hall is built frequently crops up,” he said.
Kuala Selangor District Council Youth and Community department administrative officer Mohd Razali Abdul Mavas said the last community hall to be handed over to the council was in 2013.
He explained that in the Kuala Selangor district, there were many open space areas where functions could easily be held for the community.
“Unlike in the city, we have more open spaces here.
“Today, it is expensive to rent a community hall.
“And this is why many of the community leaders refuse to let it go as they can charge rental to hold events and functions,” he said.
Selayang Council corporate communications director Mohd Zin Masoad said many of the halls in Selayang were on the verge of being handed over to the council.
“We talk to the relevant parties to work out a solution and so far we have taken around 100 community halls in Selayang constituency,” said Mohd Zin.
Kajang Council corporate communications director Norfiza Mahfiz said if it were to take over the community halls, the council would incur huge cost on repairs and maintenance.
“Roofing, basketball and badminton courts and other amenities in the hall area are normally in bad condition after it is handed over,” she said, adding that so far 15 community halls are in the process of being handed over to the council.
Source: The Star
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