Malaysia - HAPHAZARD parking in Cyberjaya will be a thing of the past as the Sepang Municipal Council (MPSp) and the police will come down hard on stubborn motorists.

Council president Azizan Mohd Sidin said from the beginning of 2007 until September this year, the police had issued 4,125 summonses, while the council had issued 437 since the beginning of this year.

"The number would have been higher, but we gave a little leeway as most of the offenders were foreign students and expatriates," said Azizan.

However, from January next year, the council will come down hard on offenders after the Cyberview-MPSp parking venue consisting of 1,149 parking bays is completed.

"We are providing free parking and a dedicated transport system to ferry workers and visitors commuting within the city.

"Those who still persist in parking along road shoulders will be fined the maximum amount allowed under the council parking by-laws," Azizan added.

He said as a pro-active measure, the police and the council enforcement officers would conduct daily checks to ensure no vehicles were parked along certain protocol roads in Cyberjaya, namely Persiaran APEC, Persiaran Semarak Api, Persiaran Flora, Persiaran Multimedia nad Persiaran Cyber.

"However, we will allow parking along other roads until the new parking venue and the designated parking areas proposed by parking operators Suasa Efektif Sdn Bhd are in place by next year," Azizan said.

On Wednesday, StarMetro had reported that the high-tech township, billed as the "Silicon Valley of Malaysia", was losing its uniqueness and the original vision of a unique and sophisticated modern township was fast becoming faintly gloomy because of haphazard parking and poor enforcement.

Following the report, both the police and MPSp decided to take a more serious view of the problem and started issuing summonses to owners of vehicles parked along the road shoulders and those obstructing traffic.

Meanwhile, Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the landowner of Cyberjaya and the entity mandated by the Government to spearhead the entire development in Cyberjaya, said it had made efforts to ensure that Cyberjaya was developed in accordance with the MSC Malaysia guidelines.

According to a statement issued on Thursday, Cyberview has introduced several initiatives that are intended to make Cyberjaya a model cybercity, including the Park-n-Ride facility.

There are now 1,221 parking bays allocated under this provision, with seven buses to ferry passengers between 7am and midnight.

The designated parking areas are located at the Cyberjaya Sports Arena, Cyberjaya Lake Gardens, PPU 7 (near EB 1 building), Cyberjaya Mini Park (near CBD Perdana), and Persiaran APEC (behind the Csf Adviser building).

There are plans to increase the number of parking bays in the near future to accommodate the increasing number of workers in Cyberjaya.

The statement added that Cyberview had conducted numerous promotional activities to highlight the availability of this service and would continue to do so with the aim of ensuring that the facility was fully used.

It added that Cyberview would continue to ensure that its development activities were in line with the planning regulations set by the local authority and would continue its efforts to make Cyberjaya the preferred location to live, study, work and play.