Major clean-up of Manggatal
Published on: Friday, April 20, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: A total of RM746,000 has been approved for the major clean-up of the 3.5 kilometre drainage system in Pekan Manggatal in the hope of solving the flash flood issue in the area. The cleaning process which started Thursday will involve removing rubbish and sediments from clogged drains which have been blamed for the frequent floods in the town. The budget was approved within a month following discussions between Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai.
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"This town is developing rapidly, I have told the community leaders that in order to solve the issue on a long term basis there has to be awareness among residents and traders not to throw rubbish into the drains," said Rahman, during his visit to the town, Thursday. He also noted the presence of many bin centres around the town and how, ironically, many of the clogged drains are located near the bin centres. "This is the problem and this is where we should look for the solution. Thus, in addition to the gotong-royong today, we also want community leaders to realise that the problem can be solved to ensure floods no longer happen in Pekan Manggatal," he said. He said the issue (throwing rubbish into drains) had existed for a very long time, stressing the need for civic consciousness and love for the town.
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"This town is beautiful and developing, but if it keeps going on, flood will still happen, of course City Hall can clean it but how many times do we have to keep doing that. It is therefore important that our efforts go hand in hand with residents love for the town and feelings of wanting to make this town clean, there has to be a campaign to make sure there is high awareness among residents."If the issue is the lack of sufficient bin centres, then we will build more rubbish houses, but I want this town to be beautiful, clean and free from floods, a town which can be an example to other towns," he said.
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The cleaning process in Pekan Manggatal is scheduled to be completed within several days after which work will continue to Pekan Inanam. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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