Former Selangor menteri besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim has urged that the recent parking fee increase in Kuala Lumpur be halted until an impact study is carried out.

"I am of the view that it must be halted until a comprehensive impact study is done on the social and financial effects of the rise in parking charges on road users, and if it will truly solve the issue of traffic congestion," Khalid said in a statement today.

Referring to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) move as something that shocked all quarters, Khalid said he was told that the decision even bypassed City Hall officers in charge of the matter.

He said a lot of people remained unconvinced by DBKL's "simplistic" explanation that the rise in parking charges would encourage the use of public transport and solve the city's traffic congestion problem.

"The people cannot be burdened with a 150 percent price hike without clear and proper reasons," Khalid said, citing his own constituents in Bandar Tun Razak who complained of a 25 percent increase in living cost because of the hike in parking fees.

Furthermore, Khalid said, with reports of an incoming hike in public transport fares, even public transport would not be a viable alternative and that it would only add to the financial burdens of the people and DBKL staff living in the city.

He urged the Kuala Lumpur mayor and Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to hold a meeting on this with all Kuala Lumpur parliamentarians.

During the meeting, he said the authorities should table the results of the impact study to find the best solution to the city's parking management woes and set a new rate that would not burden the people.