Latest news with #PasirGudangCityCouncil
The Sun
19-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
Linkedua Highway closure for chemical spill drill on July 23
JOHOR BAHRU: A full, phased closure of the northbound route on the Linkedua Highway, from KM 1.70 to KM 0.60, between Singapore Customs and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex will take place on July 23 to facilitate a chemical spill emergency simulation exercise. In a statement, the Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) said the closure will be in effect from 4.00 am to 2.00 pm, during which northbound traffic will be diverted via a designated contraflow lane. The simulation exercise is part of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Committee on the Environment (MSJCE) 2025 programme and is aimed at enhancing preparedness for chemical spill incidents along the highway. Jointly organised by Malaysia's Department of Environment (DOE) and Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), the drill is designed to improve cross-border coordination and inter-agency response capabilities. 'This drill is in line with the standard operating procedures agreed upon by both countries,' according to the statement posted on MBPG's Facebook page. - Bernama
The Star
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Anxiety over assessment tax crackdown in Johor
Instead of coming down hard on ratepayers, local councils should offer incentives to boost payment TWO years ago, there was much hue and cry when five local councils in Johor decided to hike their property assessment taxes, with some going up by more than 100%. The councils claimed that the last time valuations were done was in 2013. And since then, property prices had increased significantly, especially in cities such as Johor Baru, Pasir Gudang and Iskandar Puteri. This prompted Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi to mitigate the fallout and cushion the impact among property owners by offering a 30% rebate last year. This rebate was subsequently expanded to include another 10 local councils, bringing the total number to 15 statewide. Kulai Municipal Council (MPKu) was the only local council to revise its assessment rates before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 and, as such, taxpayers there were not given rebates. Lately, I have been getting queries from people about images on social media showing local council enforcement personnel pasting red notices outside homes and even using tape to seal off entrances. There was also a video of people in uniform using metal cutters to cut padlocks or locking up homes. I discovered that some of the videos were posted earlier in the year but only started trending now. I found that two videos by Pasir Gudang City Council and Iskandar Puteri City Council (MBIP) showed enforcement officers cutting locks, sealing homes and pasting red notices outside homes. At the same time, I also found two light-hearted videos done by Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) and MPKu to encourage people to pay their assessment tax on time. The latter was even offering a gift and bag to those who paid before the deadline. This begs the question: Why the contrasting methods to get people to pay up? When contacted, Johor housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor acknowledged that a special operation was being conducted statewide by all 16 local councils to go after owners with high outstanding assessment tax bills. Enforcement officers from Pasir Gudang City Council putting up notices before sealing a premises in their jurisdiction. — Courtesy photo He said the enforcement operations had to be done as they were getting complaints from prompt taxpayers. Mohd Jafni urged all property owners to come forward and settle their dues. I own a double-storey terrace house in Taman Desa Tebrau and was paying RM353.60 annually in assessment tax before the amount jumped 45% to RM512.80 this year. At the same time, MBJB has revalued my home from RM272,000 to RM641,000, a whopping 135% jump since I purchased the property 15 years ago. I had previously worked in the Klang Valley before moving down south and sometimes I find the cost of living in Johor is much higher than in Kuala Lumpur, maybe due to the strong Singapore dollar. I am sure some property owners may have overlooked paying their assessment taxes because of their hectic work schedules. As such, local councils should try other ways to coax people to pay their taxes, instead of resorting to such high-handed tactics. In addition to physical bills sent through the post, local councils should also follow up with SMS, WhatsApp and email to get ratepayers to settle their dues on time. Why not give an incentive in the form of a 10% rebate to those who pay early or sign up for auto debit? For those having trouble paying, local councils should offer flexible instalment plans. A little more empathy and creativity can go a long way.
The Star
06-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
‘Flood prevention rules to be updated'
Continuous rainfall from March 19 to 20 this year caused floods in parts of Taman Tampoi Indah 2, Johor Baru. — Filepic Johor government will hold workshops to enable all 16 local authorities to better tackle floods, said state executive councillor Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor. The housing and local government committee chairman said they would start with local councils in the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone as these faced the most flood-related issues. 'Our workshops since 2023 focused on getting higher allocations for flood mitigation efforts, and improving enforcement. 'This year, we will focus on improving regulations, especially for retention ponds, irrigation and drainage systems. 'This also includes standard operating procedures (SOP) that developers must follow before starting work on a site,' he said in an interview. He added that the workshops would begin in the third quarter of this year. Under the SOP, developers must build retention ponds before starting a project. Mohd Jafni also said outdated regulations must be reviewed. 'The regulations had been in use for more than 10 years and can no longer cope with the current volume of rainfall which is four to six times more than before,' he said. Mohd Jafni said earlier workshops had yielded some results. 'Just this year we received more than RM100mil, which is likely one of the highest allocation amounts from the Housing and Local Government Ministry for flood-related issues,' he disclosed. He said that some RM213mil had been allocated to carry out over 350 flood-related projects since 2023. This includes RM106mil for flood mitigation efforts involving all local authorities this year. 'Of the 123 projects for this year, 16 are under Johor Baru City Council, which has been allocated about RM42mil. 'Another 16 are under Pasir Gudang City Council with RM9.1mil, while 13 are under Iskandar Puteri City Council with some RM36mil' said Mohd Jafni. 'Through the projects, we hope to resolve at least half of the flood issues,' he added.
The Star
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Johor allocates RM213mil for 353 flood management projects
ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Johor government will have spent RM213mil to implement 353 flood management projects in hotspots involving 16 local government authorities since 2023. State housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said that for 2025 alone, the state has allocated RM106.2mil to implement 104 projects in flood hotspots involving 16 local authorities. He said the Johor Baru City Council received the highest allocation of RM42.4mil to implement 16 flood management projects, followed by the Iskandar Puteri City Council (RM36.1mil; 13 projects), Pasir Gudang City Council (RM9.1mil; 16 projects) and the Kulai Municipal Council (RM5.7mil; 15 projects). The projects involve, among others, upgrading reservoirs, building small dams along drains and raising the drain walls to avoid flooding in the low-lying areas, he said, adding that the methods for solving the flood issue vary from area to area. Apart from that, he said development must also be kept under control. "We have found over the past three years that areas that used to be flood-free have become flooded due to uncontrolled development," he told a press conference here on Wednesday (May 21). Mohd Jafni said there was also a need to improve the conditions and specifications for drainage and flood management in planning permission in line with the rapid pace of development and changing rainfall patterns. "The specifications given to these developers are specifications that are 10, 15 years old and are not relevant to the amount of rainfall that falls now, which has increased five or six times. "If we control the development part, and we solve these flood hotspot areas, the flood problems can be resolved," he said. - Bernama
