Published on: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 |
Kota Kinabalu: City Hall aims to reduce the public's fear of becoming crime victims here by 50 per cent under its Safe City Programme to be implemented this year.
Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said an initiative to clean up "black spot" areas here would be carried out under the programme by identifying these areas.
"These black spots do not necessarily refer to areas that have high crime index but in our context, it would mean an area that brings about fear of crime, dirty, not manageable and prone to unhealthy activities.
"Among areas identified are the Kota Kinabalu Central Market, Sinsuran, Bandaran Berjaya, Asia City, Api-Api, Sadong Jaya, Karamunsing, Sembulan, Sempelang and Tanjung Aru township," he said, when officiating at a workshop at the City Learning Centre in Taman Kingfisher, Tuesday.
About 70 participants from 34 government departments and agencies at State and Federal level including Sabah police attended the workshop.
City Hall organised the workshop in an effort to act as the main platform to discuss and identify problems and issues in these areas and implement measures to clean them up.
Also present were City Hall Director-General Datuk Yeo Boon Hai, City Hall Deputy Director-General (Operation) Joannes Solidau and other officials.
Madingkir said identified areas would be cleaned up in terms of their surrounding condition and environment by improving cleanliness and beautification of these areas, safety and socio-economic aspects.
"Throughout last year and 2011, City Hall had implemented various actions and steps under the Government Transformation Plan 1.0 of reducing crimes under National Key Results Area (NKRA) target here.
"Among them were lighting up Segama and Kg Air in 2011 and old city area last year, installing crash barriers at Mat Saman road heading to Jesselton Point in 2011 and Jalan Tungku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Tun Razak last year.
"We have installed safety mirrors in the centre of the city, providing locked parking bays for motorcycles and put up reminder signs and emergency lines in public areas," he said.
Madingkir hoped that the workshop would produce steps and measures to clean up the identified areas.
"I hope the participants would give professional and relevant proposals that cater to the current situations.
The responsibility of making the city free from violence, destruction and degradation of moral and social values rests on the shoulders of all of us," he said.
