LABUAN: The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Malaysia (CILTM) Sabah Section has called for a balanced and practical approach to parking enforcement in Kota Kinabalu, saying enforcement must be supported by long-term urban mobility and parking reforms.
Its Chairman Daniel Doughty said CILTM Sabah recognised the importance of enforcement efforts by Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) in maintaining traffic order, road safety and overall city mobility.
He said enforcement against illegal parking remained necessary, particularly in areas involving traffic obstruction, junction visibility, pedestrian safety, emergency access routes, loading zones and high-traffic corridors.
“Without proper enforcement, traffic conditions within Kota Kinabalu could deteriorate and affect public safety, business activity, logistics movement, tourism experience and overall city efficiency,” he said in a statement, Wednesday.
However, Daniel, who is also Labuan Chamber of Commerce (LCC) President, said the current situation also reflected a larger structural issue involving the mismatch between parking demand and available parking infrastructure in the city centre and surrounding commercial zones.
He said Kota Kinabalu’s growth in vehicle ownership, commercial activity, tourism and urban concentration had outpaced parking capacity expansion and integrated mobility planning.
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“As a result, many road users face difficulty securing regulated parking spaces, especially during peak commercial hours, night-time economic activity periods, weekends and tamu operations.
“Enforcement alone cannot fully resolve the issue if the underlying infrastructure and urban mobility constraints remain unaddressed,” he said.
Daniel said a sustainable solution should include differentiated enforcement based on the severity of obstruction, warning-based compliance for non-critical violations, controlled night-time parking tolerance zones where suitable, and faster planning for additional parking capacity and smarter urban mobility solutions.
He said the public must also understand that illegally parked vehicles were not necessarily harmless simply because traffic appeared light, as improper parking could still affect traffic flow, safety, emergency access and road functionality.
Daniel said CILTM Sabah viewed calls for street demonstrations at this stage as unnecessary, as parking and mobility challenges required technical engagement, planning coordination and policy refinement involving authorities, transport stakeholders, businesses and the public.
He said comparisons with areas such as Masjid India in Kuala Lumpur should be viewed carefully, as Kuala Lumpur had a more mature transport ecosystem supported by extensive public transport, multi-storey parking, rail connectivity, wider traffic dispersal capacity and different enforcement zoning dynamics.
“Kota Kinabalu’s urban structure, road network limitations, parking inventory and mobility ecosystem are fundamentally different and therefore cannot be directly compared on a one-to-one basis,” he said.
Daniel said the issue should not be seen purely as a conflict between enforcement authorities and the public, but as a signal that Kota Kinabalu required more comprehensive urban mobility planning, parking management reform and integrated transport solutions.
He said both enforcement authorities and the public shared the same objective of maintaining Kota Kinabalu as a functional, safe, economically active and accessible city for all.
