Kuala Lumpur City Hall's (DBKL) Commissioner for Building (COB) has been urged by Kepong Community Centre head Yee Poh Ping to form a panel of experienced and certified maintenance companies to help Joint Management Body (JMB) of apartments and condominiums to better manage their facilities.

"Maintenance companies are experienced in handling all the facilities in apartments, and the JMB can act as a supervisor in the process," Yee said.

"I have come across many similar grouses from Kepong residents about facilities not maintained properly…Complaints to the COB on inefficient administration of the JMB would take a long time to resolve due to shortage of manpower," he said at a press conference.

The workload of JMB and the COB will be reduced with the panel of maintenance companies, he noted.

Even though all three blocks have two lifts each, residents at Block C are forced to use the stairs as both lifts are faulty and meanwhile, Block A and B each have one functioning lift. The residential blocks' dire state has led residents to question the whereabouts of the maintenance funds, Yee said.

"However, this is not an overnight problem and the JMB does not have money for the repairs due to two reasons…Firstly, only 50 percent of the residents settle their maintenance fees and the previous JMB committee was ineffective in collecting maintenance fees and sinking funds," explained Yee.