Heartbreak in Taman Nice over tree felling absent proper procedure
Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
Pic left: The mango tree was planted decades ago and it had grown so tall that the canopy could be seen from many of the houses in the area. Pic right: the debris from the mango tree can be seen scattered around the name sign for Taman Nice in Penampang.
Several City Hall workers have been taken to task for chopping down some trees without prior instructions from their superiors, including the Mayor.To make matters worse, they made use of City Hall equipment and an open-truck to do so in an area which was not even under the agency’s jurisdiction.
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Despite being asked what they were doing – after the first tree had come down – the personnel still proceeded to fell the others growing nearby.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Landscaping Department confirmed that the staff had acted of their own accord.
“All those involved were queried by our upper management when this incident came to light,” he said.
“They had been involved in a ‘gotong royong (community clean-up)’ in Kepayan at the time.
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“On their way back, they decided to use their break-time to grab a bite at the shops in Taman Nice.”
The owner of the premises, where they were eating, had apparently approached them about dealing with the trees, according to him.
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“This individual claimed that the greenery was touching the roof of the building.”
He said the agency’s personnel agreed to step-in without giving the request much thought.
“They admitted to acting impulsively and failing to double-check with their Unit Head before cutting the trees in this part of Penampang.”
He said this matter had been referred to City Hall’s Integrity Division for further investigation.
“They will be brought before the committee that runs our ‘Lembaga Tatatertib (Disciplinary Board)’.
“If need be, stern action will be taken against them under the Public Officers’ Regulations 2008.”
The spokesman was responding to the outcry from 11 Taman Nice residents about the loss of the greenery, including a mango tree which had been growing on the roadside there for decades.
The garden waste from the tree-cutting was loaded into the back of this open-truck.
Some were dismayed that they would no longer be able to appreciate the view of the tree’s broad canopy from their homes.
Others were angered that the public had been deprived of the shade and oxygen-rich atmosphere provided by the thick foliage.
All of them, however, were unhappy that that the trees were chopped down without the District Council’s say-so.
They pay the Council assessment annually to look after the public amenities, including the greenery growing in the common areas around the neighbourhood.
The group wanted to know how City Hall staff could have acted so brazenly, considering the trees did not belong to this agency. They also wanted to know how the Council could have allowed this to happen.
The rate-payers related their displeasure to Hotline in writing. A copy of this letter was forwarded to City Hall and the Council.
A spokesman for the latter acknowledged receipt of this document, saying that it had confirmed that City Hall personnel had encroached into the Council’s rating area.
“During a site-inspection, the Council’s officers found that a few trees – growing in a neighbourhood under our jurisdiction – had been chopped down by City Hall workers,” he said.
“The Council’s administration neither instructed for this to be done nor did we enlist City Hall’s assistance to do so.
“We have sought an explanation from the Mayor as to how City Hall could have felled the greenery in question without first consulting with us.”
He said a letter to this affect had been sent to City Hall at the beginning of the month.
“We are still waiting to receive an official response to this correspondence,” he said on April 25.
MARI, who lives in Taman Nice, was shocked to hear a loud crash from her house after mid-day on a recent Tuesday.
She looked out of her window and was taken aback to find that a “large and mature” mango tree in the neighbourhood, was being cut down.
She made her way to the row of shophouses, beside which the tree was growing, and, after asking around, learned that City Hall workers were in the midst of getting rid of the greenery near one part of the building.
This was being done at the behest of a shop-lot owner there, according to her.
“I saw a blue truck, with the letters ‘DBKK’ painted on the body, parked near the building,” she said.
“Some workers armed with a chainsaw had chopped down the mango tree.”
This turn of events unsettled her, especially as the neighbourhood was under the purview of the District Council but it was not their personnel who were carrying out the work.
Owing to this, Mari phoned the Council. She said the staff, who took her call, was equally troubled by what was transpiring.
“He told me that the Council doesn’t kill trees, let alone fruit trees.”
About half an hour later, two of the Council’s landscaping staff came to the shophouses and spoke to some of the proprietors there.
One of these officers managed to get the contact details for the shop-lot owner who had arranged for the trees to be chopped down. He contacted this individual and a lengthy exchange ensued.
“At the end of the conversation, the unit-owner was told to hold-off from cutting down the other trees until the Council determined whether they were growing on private or government land.
The pair from Council left shortly after this, trusting that the unit-owner would comply and inform the City Hall staff to cease cutting down the trees.
Mari said the latter returned about 2.30pm and began felling more of the greenery.
“They refused to be dissuaded from this work and, when I asked them why they refused to stop, they told me ‘kami hanya mengikut arahan’ (we are only following orders).”
She said the shop-lot owner arrived in the middle of all this.
Mari proceeded to ask him about his insistence to do away with all the greenery nearby.
“I was told that the branches of the trees had grown into the path of the electricity cables outside his lot causing the power supply in the unit to trip.
“This prompted me to ask him why he had not referred this problem to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd as the company’s staff would have surely come to prune any overgrown trees near its overhead lines.
“He said he had reached out to City Hall as this was the quickest way to prevent any undue power disruptions in his lot.”
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