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SABAH Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and City Hall are keeping an eye on the stretch leading to a Papar village and the main road between two Kolombong commercial centres to ensure that these areas are properly lit at night.

This follows feedback about the breakdown of the streetlights on both roads.

A Papar motorist said the brightness on the way to the village was “patchy” at best, at night, because only the odd street light here and there was operational.

He said most of the road had been shrouded in darkness “for years”.

A Kolombong proprietor, meanwhile, bemoaned the lack of illumination along the stretch beside the building where her shop was located. She claimed that none of the lights on the divider in the middle of the stretch had been operational for a month.

Both individuals provided Hotline with the location of the unlit roads involved. This information was forwarded to SESB and City Hall.

A SESB spokeswoman said its branch office in Papar was informed about the driver’s concerns.

A City Hall contractor examines the components inside a control panel on Jalan Lintas.

 

“One of our technicians met with the complainant a day after his grievance was published in the newspaper,” she said.

“They went down the village road, from end to end, that evening and managed to identify those lights which had malfunctioned.”

She said some 22 of these facilities were found to be out of order.

“These lights were put up by SESB many years ago. Wear and tear had taken a toll on these facilities, rendering many of them inoperative.

“Some were also damaged due to the low voltage of the electricity being channelled to the area.”

A joint-inspection was made by this SESB technician from Papar and a Kg Suok-Damai driver a day after the street light woe was published.

 

The spokeswoman said the irregularities involving the lights and the supply had since been addressed by SESB.

She said it took some time to source for the spare parts needed to repair the former.

“Nevertheless, repairs on the lights were completed a month after the joint-inspection with the driver who lives in the village.

“Our personnel will check on the condition of these facilities from time to time in the hopes of preventing the streetlight woes from recurring.”

MARCELL of Papar said lights were installed between the junction from Jalan Mogon Biau-junction all the way to Kg Suok-Dambai years ago.

He said the lights were attached to many of the electricity poles along the stretch.

An SESB contractor repairing one of the lights on the village road.

 

 “The lights were tested for a while to see if they functioned, after they were first attached to the electricity poles,” he said. He said many of these amenities had not been lit since.

“The lights feel like decorations which have lost their charm. A lot of them are no longer pleasing to the eye.

“The metal around the light fixtures has lost its sheen and turned brown, while the poles to which they are connected have become overgrown with creepers.”

He said the lack of illumination made it difficult for motorists to tell if there were vehicles coming round the bend at night, let alone when those going on foot were crossing the road.

“This is especially so when there is a downpour.”

Marcell some of those living in the village, which is located about 10 kilometres away from the town, had reported these streetlight woes to the District Council.

“The Council’s staff redirected my neighbours to SESB. They were made to understand that the lights were outside the agency’s jurisdiction.

“My neighbours highlighted the problem with the lights to the company, but their efforts have, so far, proven in vain as the lights have not been restored.”

Meanwhile, VERON of Kolombong said the streetlights on the main road between the Latitude 6 commercial centre and the Bunga Raja shophouses, near Taman Iramanis, had been out of order since the Harvest Festival public holidays.

She said motorists found it difficult to gauge the movement of pedestrians trying to cross the Kolombong-Lintas ring road, between the two properties, because the stretch was unlit.

Illumination has since been restored on the Papar stretch.

On top of this, drivers coming from the Metro Town area risked colliding with the oncoming traffic while trying to make a U-turn to access the junction to the Bunga Raja shops according to her.

“The lack of illumination on the main road makes it hard to tell the speed and distance of vehicles coming from the opposite direction at night,” she said.

Veron runs a confectionery shop at Latitude 6.

She hoped the local authorities would act to ensure that the lights were operational before anything unpleasant happened to motorists or pedestrians using Jalan Lintas. A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said a problem with a component inside the control panel for these facilities was to blame for the breakdown.

“A ‘contactor’ was found to be damaged. Our contractor replaced this spare part and reset the mechanism for the lights,” he said.

“He later confirmed that these facilities were coming on and going off as normal.”

She said the individual had been asked to step up efforts to monitor the road at night to ensure that the lights were operating as they should.