Likas garbage woe not DBKK’s fault
Published on: Thursday, May 13, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
A damaged arm-chair was among the bulky waste found by City Hall staff on one pavement in this Likas neighbourhood.
CITY HALL has refuted a ratepayer’s claims about a breakdown in its garbage collection service in a Likas neighbourhood, saying the domestic waste from homes here was removed according to schedule.The homeowner claimed that the rubbish had not been removed from outside residences there in some time, making the public spaces look unsightly.
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He provided Hotline with the names of the housing roads along which piles of refuse had been spotted. This information was forwarded to the agency.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Solid Waste Management Department said household waste was cleared between two to three times a week as usual.
“Our staff checked on the resident’s claims at the end of April shortly after being contacted by the media,” he said.
“They found that the bins in the neighbourhood were empty at the time.”
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Nevertheless, the agency’s personnel did observe garbage heaped up on some pavements and verges there, according to him.
“This rubbish was mostly garden waste but, in one or two places, pieces of unwanted furniture had been left in the common areas outside some homes.”
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He said this litter appeared to have been left there for some time.
The spokesman said those living in the vicinity of these piles of refuse had been served with notices, asking them to dispose of this mess.
“They were also given a strict warning not to obstruct the common areas in the area, including the road-shoulders, again in future.”
“They have a grace-period in which to comply with our instructions.
“Should the problem persist after this, then further action will be taken against them.”
He said the culprits risked being compounded for disposing of their waste haphazardly.
Under City Hall’s Anti-Litter Bylaws, they could be compounded between RM100-500.
In extreme cases, they could be brought to court where they risk having to pay a maximum fine of RM5, 000.
The spokesman said the agency’s staff would check on the goings-on in the area, from time to time, to deter the public from transforming other sections of the roadside into illegal dumps.
These trimmings were not left behind by DBKK workers. An errant rate-pay dumped this garden waste here.
He urged rate-payers to cut any tree trunks or branches, they wanted to dispose of, down to a more manageable size and bag this waste.
“This will allow our workers to remove this rubbish when their bins are emptied,” he said.
“If they are unable to chop down their garden waste into smaller pieces, then the onus falls on them to get rid of this rubbish at the dump site for the City.”
He said the same also held true in cases involving bulky waste, including items of furniture.
“They should hire a private contractor to transport their trimmings or discarded furniture to Kayu Madang.
“If they are at a loss to do this, then they can ask us for advice.”
He said City Hall was responsible for clearing domestic refuse, including kitchen scraps, from business and residential premises within the agency’s rating area.
ARUL of Likas said the rubbish had been piling up along the housing roads around Taman Kingfisher, where he lived, for months.
On top of making the area look messy, he said the garbage on the verges and pavements also put pedestrians in harm’s way because they were forced to walk on the stretches nearby.
“The collection service is part of the assessment which we pay to City Hall,” he said.
“I think it is unfair of the agency to charge us for a service which is not forthcoming.”
He claimed, in some cases, that the heaps of refuse were the trimmings left behind from the agency’s efforts to prune the greenery around the neighbourhood.
“There is even an abandoned car which has encroached onto one of the stretches here.
“The vehicle has been on the road-shoulder for more than 10 years.”
Arul was at a loss to understand how City Hall could have turned a blind eye to these irregularities for so long.
The spokesman clarified that the garden waste around the neighbourhood did not come from agency’s tree-pruning work.
“An open truck is deployed if and when our staff trim the branches here,” he said.
“The debris is loaded into the back of the vehicle, after the trees are cut, so that it can be transported away.”
A spokesman for the agency’s Enforcement Department said it would try to trace the owner of the abandoned car.
“If need be, we will enlist the assistance of the Road Transport Department to identify the identity the individual,” he said.
“The owner will be asked to remove his/ her vehicle and warned not to leave it in the public areas around the neighbourhood.
“A notice to this effect will be given to him/ her.”
He said the car-owner would be given a grace-period to fulfil the City Hall’s instruction.
“If the vehicle is still on the verge after this, then further action will be taken against him/ her.
Under the agency’s bylaws, motorists who leave their vehicles in undesignated parking spaces could be slapped with a compound of up to RM500, according to him.
“Such action can be taken under the agency’s Provision of Parking Places By Law 2003.”
He said repeat offenders faced the possibility of being taken to court where they risked be fined up to RM 5,000.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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