Call for end to toilet fees in shopping malls
Published on: Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: THE government should ensure that the fees to use public toilets and toilets in shopping malls and complexes should be done away with because the public had already paid for the service charges when they go shopping and collecting fees for toilets is akin to double collection."If the toilets are clean, we probably won't complain. But the state of our toilets are so pathetically dirty and many of the facilities are broken, not maintained. This practice of charging users must be abolished. Shopping complexes in Kuala Lumpur no longer charge users," said Sindumin Assemblyman Datuk Ahmad Bujang.Ahmad said this when debating the 2016 State Budget at the State Legislative Assembly.
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He said while it is unfair to compare Kota Kinabalu to Tokyo, it is good to take the latter as the role model on the use of public facilities."We do not want to compete, but we want to ensure that we are a clean and neat country also. Of course, in Tokyo, it is different. People can actually sleep in the toilet because it is so clean and not smelly," he said.In order to further boost Kota Kinabalu's image as the gateway to Sabah, Ahmad also drew attention to the many abandoned buildings within and around Kota Kinabalu, but particularly the building next to Star City.Calling it an eyesore, he said the presence of such building would give negative perception towards the State government and the State as a whole.
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"Follow-up action must be taken and the developer of this premises must bear the responsibility to finish this abandoned project. "Alternatively, the government or the private sector could restart the project and complete it according to an approved development plan.
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"I remember, the same had been done with the building in front of the Filipino market on which now stands Le Meridien Hotel. I hope a similar project can be carried out for this abandoned building as well," he said.Ahmad also urged the government to devise a plan to supply each residential home in the State with cooking gas through piping system as what had been done in Malaya and other developed countries.This system, he said, would simplify the supply of cooking gas without having to wait for gas distributors to go by before housewives could replace their empty gas cylinders with new ones."Pity the housewives who suddenly found their cooking gas depleted and they have no cars to go replace the gas cylinders. It is difficult to keep spare gas cylinders nowadays too because we don't have enough gas cylinder supply because thousands have been smuggled out into neighbouring countries."Therefore, I feel that the best and suitable way to address this problem is by supplying our people with cooking gas directly to the house. This will not only minimise supply problems but also reduce the cost because of subsidies provided by the government as what had been done in Malaya," he said.Ahmad also urged the government to help solve illegal immigrant problem that is becoming an increasing problem in Sipitang due to development factors such as the construction of the Sipitang Oil and Gas Industrial Park (Sogip).Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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