THE Selangor government will introduce digital coupons or eKupon via the Smart Selangor Parking (SSP) app from Jan 3, following the phasing out of paper-based ones.
Selangor local government, public transport and new village development committee chairman Ng Sze Han said consumers who have bought paper parking coupons could still use them until March 31 next year.
“Paper parking coupons will be replaced with the Smart Selangor Parking eKupon.
“This new function will not affect existing or new users of the app as they can still continue to use SSP to pay for parking and parking compounds as usual,” Ng said in a press conference at a ceremony to announce the additional eKupon function in the SSP app held at the Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) Dewan Sivik.
The use of eKupon is seen to further facilitate the parking payment system, where all registered eKupon agents in every local council in Selangor can be easily accessed via the SSP app.
“The Selangor government is aware of the impact of the movement control restrictions, as many economic sectors were not allowed to open during that period.
“A decision was made to continue with the use of paper parking coupons until the end of March.
“This means that starting April 1 next year, all parking payment transactions in Selangor will go fully digital.
“We encourage the public who still have paper coupons to use them within these three months.
“We will also come up with a mechanism for the public to credit the remaining value of the paper parking coupons into the SSP app,” said Ng.
Ng added that non-smartphone users or those who had difficulty using the SSP app could buy eKupon from authorised agents.
Ng added that the success of the Smart Selangor programme would be achieved not only with the creation of digital applications and innovations, but more importantly through widespread use and acceptance among the people.
“To achieve this goal, the Smart Selangor Parking app was introduced and expanded for open parking or on-street parking payments throughout Selangor in 2019.
“The app has 1.7 million registered users and this has saved 904 tonnes of paper, which is equivalent to preventing the felling of 21,700 trees,” he said.
Ng added that they expected an increase in the number of app users by 20% next year, once parking payments are fully digitalised.
Present at the ceremony were Petaling Jaya mayor Mohamad Azhan Md Azmir, Petaling Jaya deputy mayor Sharifah Marhaini Syed Ali, Smart Selangor Delivery Unit (SSDU) managing director Dr Fahmi Ngah and Mentri Besar Selangor Incorporated chief financial officer Zannifa Azura Ahmad.
Meanwhile, Fahmi said many people in Selangor had voiced the need for a single app to contain most of the services available in the state.
“They don’t want too many apps, and as such, perhaps there could be one super app at the state and local council level for all paid government services as well as notifications from the state government.
“We have put forward an expression of interest to the private sector to develop this super app next year in collaboration with the Selangor government and SSDU,” he said.
Fahmi said the existing Citizen E-Payment (CEPat) app, which currently had 40,000 users, contained a suite of eight government services.
The CEPat app enabled users to pay their assessment tax and top up using e-wallet, online banking platforms and convenience stores.
Source : https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2021/12/24/digital-parking-coupons-to-be-available-via-smart-selangor-app-from-jan-3
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