RM1,000 fine for breeding Aedes
Published on: Friday, August 19, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
City Hall staff fogged the commercial areas around Asia City after several dengue cases were reported here.
Kota Kinabalu rate-payers could find themselves RM1,000 poorer if they allow their premises to become a public nuisance or potential breeding ground for harmful pests, especially Aedes mosquitoes.A spokeswoman for the City Hall’s Health said Environment Department said this was the maximum fine which could be imposed in court, under the Local Government Ordinance 1961 (Amendment 2000).
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“Alternatively, they might have to spend up to six months behind bars for failing to take better care of their compound, including tending to any greenery planted in their property, ” she said.
“In the worst case scenario, they could be slapped with both a fine and jail-term.”
Among the nuisances stipulated in section 49B of the ordinance are:
)) any dust, effluvium, accumulation or deposit which is… likely to become a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies or any vermin.
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)) any tank, well, pool, gutter…which is… likely to become a breeding place for mosquitoes or flies or vermin.
)) any place where there exists, or likely to exist, any condition giving rise, or capable of giving rise to the breeding of mosquitoes or flies.
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The spokeswoman said notices would initially be served to errant premises-owners, asking them to tend to any overgrown plants or dispose of any empty containers or other receptacles in which rainwater might collect.
“They will be given a grace-period to fulfil our requirements. A follow-up inspection will be carried out after this.
“Further action will be taken against those who have not complied.”
She did not rule out the possibility of their cases being referred to the agency’s Legal Department so that the offenders could be taken to court.
The spokeswoman was responding to feedback from three Luyang rate-payers about the increase in the number of mosquitoes buzzing about their homes.
One of these individuals suspected that the insects might have made a habitat in some abandoned flats in her neighbourhood.
The spokeswoman said a team of seven personnel – including inspectors with City Hall’s Vector Control Division – carried out fogging in Taman Kinamount, Taman Fook Tin and Taman Golden City earlier this month because of these observations.
“A similar exercise was also performed at the Foh Sang shops and around Asia City in the State Capital following requests from the Kota Kinabalu Health Office (KKHO) for us to do so,” she said.
A fogging exercise was also performed around the Foh Sang shops in Luyang.
“Several people living and working in these areas were found to have come down with dengue.”
A KKHO spokeswoman warned that premises-owners could be compounded up to RM500 if the fluids in any receptacles strewn about their properties were found to have Aedes larvae.
“They could be deemed to have created a potential habitat for mosquitoes, under the Destruction of Disease-bearing Insects Act 1975 (Amendment 2002),” she said.
“They will initially be asked to get rid of the objects in which the insects were spawning.”
Section 8 of the ordinance stipulates that “a Medical Officer of Health or an inspector may in writing order the owner or occupier of any premises… to collect and remove empty tins, cans, bottles or other receptacles in which disease bearing insects may breed”.
Any person who…fails or neglects to comply with any written order… shall be guilty of an offence.
The spokeswoman said, in extreme cases, legal action could be taken against the wrongdoers.
“Those found guilty in court for the first time risk being slapped with a RM10,000 fine, a two year jail-term or both.
“Repeat offenders, on the other hand, face the possibility of having to shoulder a RM50,000 fine, serve a five year prison sentence or both, according to her.
ALVINNA of Luyang voiced her misgivings about the water ponding on the grounds some unoccupied flats near Taman Fook Tin.
“The area looks abandoned and, to make matters worse, I suspect the rainwater has been collecting in parts of the property,” she said.
She claimed to have noticed more mosquitoes than usual hovering inside her house.
“This has made me wonder if the insects are breeding inside the water.”
Even the playground ion Taman Kinamount was fogged.
Another Luyang resident, CHIN, bemoaned the poor management of the front-yard drains around Taman Kinamount.
“I suspect that the run-off is stagnating, as when the weather is hot, a stench wafts into our homes from the direction of the drains,” he said.
He feared that the drainage problems might begin to threaten the well-being of homeowners there.
“I have been awoken at night so many times off late by the sound of mosquitoes buzzing around my ears.
“I suspect that Aedes mosquitoes might have made a home inside the drains and fear that there could be a dengue outbreak in my neighbourhood.”
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