KUALA LUMPUR – Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim made several inaccurate statements concerning the association and Kuala Lumpur football stadium, Kuala Lumpur Football Association (KLFA) charged.
Speaking in Parliament on September 23, he said the stadium was handed over to KLFA.
KLFA president Khalid Abdul Samad said in a statement today that it only has an agreement to manage the stadium for Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) from January 27, 2005 to January 27, 2021.
Under this agreement, KLFA is paid RM14,000 a month as stadium management fee, which covers cleaning services in and around the area of the stadium.
As for rental, all payments are to be made towards DBKL while KLFA is only eligible to receive 10% of the full amount.
Khalid also denies Shahidan’s claim that the City Hall paid maintenance costs amounting to RM1,786,564 to KLFA.
Instead, he said KLFA only receives RM14,000 a month as a stadium management fee, or RM168,000 a year.
The football association also denies that Messrs. Arcadin Services Sdn Bhd owns 50% of privatisation shares of KL United FC team and given the lease to the stadium by DBKL as stated by the minister.
After the agreement expires on January 27, 2021, Khalid said KLFA will be charged a rental for each match of RM6,000 and RM1,000 for each training session.
As such, six days prior, KLFA proposed to the Kuala Lumpur mayor to continue the stadium management agreement with a rental payment to DBKL of RM200,000 per year for 20 years.
Khalid says they met with the mayor on February 2 and presented a proposal paper on the lease where the maintenance of the stadium is the sole responsibility of KLFA.
At the same time, all income, whether from rental or advertising, belongs to KLFA.
But a few days after the offer was made, Khalid said DBKL decided to hand over the stadium lease to Arcadin Services, which had offered RM300,000 as a yearly rental fee, on almost the same terms.
The statement also said that KLFA is of the view that they should be given priority in the question of renting the stadium, considering they are the city’s football association. – The Vibes, September 30, 2021
