Keeping tabs on faulty streetlights
Published on: Friday, November 18, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
A skymaster was deployed to facilitate efforts to restore the public- lighting in the part of Dah Yeh Villa.
CITY HALL technicians will step-up their night-time surveillance of Jalan Kolam, after the streetlights on the divider between the junctions to the Kota Kinabalu Court Complex and Wisma HCS broke down twice over the past fortnight.They have also been asked to keep tabs on the public-lighting around Dah Yeh Villa and Taman Inanam Laut, according to a spokesman for the agency’s Engineering Department.
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This action was prompted by feedback from two Luyang rate-payers, and another in Inanam, who were concerned about the lack of illumination in their respective areas.
A technician checks on the mechanism inside the control panel for the streetlights on Jalan Kolam.
They provided Hotline with the location of the inoperative streetlights which was forwarded to City Hall.
The spokesman said the contractors, responsible for attending to the public-lighting in these areas, had been alerted to the irregularities with these amenities.
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“A problem with the timer for the streetlights left the section of the main road, from the Court Complex onwards, unlit earlier this week,” he said on November 17.
“The device has since been reset and the contractor is keeping an eye on the lights to ensure that they come on as they should after dark.”
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Prior to this, a faulty “contactor” triggered the outage of the lights at the same section of Jalan Kolam at the end of October, according to him.
He said about 20 of these amenities were erected on the 820-metre section of the divider between the Court Complex and Wisma HCS.
In the case of the Dah Yeh Villa neighbourhood, the spokesman said a check of Lorong Kenawai 4 and Lorong Kenawai 5 revealed that some of the lighting fixtures were damaged.
He said repairs were made on the spot, with the contractor’s workers also installing new bulbs and ballasts where needed.
“A sky-master was deployed to facilitate efforts to have the lights restored.”
“Both housing roads were kept under surveillance for a week afterwards, during which time the contractor confirmed that nothing was amiss with these amenities.”
The spokesman said the agency was still trying to resolve the streetlight woes on Lorong Inanam Laut 4.
“A check of records shows that our contractor last dealt with a similar problem along here towards the end of September.”
When asked how often maintenance was carried on the lights within City Hall’s rating-area, the spokesman said there was no fixed-schedule for this work.
“These amenities are attended to as and when it becomes necessary to do so.
“To this end, we hope the public will inform us directly of any irregularities involving these amenities so that these problems can be attended to as soon as possible.”
LYLE, who lives in Taman Layang-Layang, bemoaned the lack of illumination on the section of the main road between the neighbourhood and Wisma HCS.
“This situation is hazardous to motorists exiting from the Taman Layang-Layang junction onto Jalan Kolam as they have to reckon with drivers speeding down the latter stretch,” he said.
“One night, I almost ran into a pedestrian who was crossing the main road as I was driving out from the junction.”
Lyle said this was not the first time that this stretch had been shrouded in darkness at night.
“The lights were out of order for more than a week in October.
“The local authorities should step up efforts to maintain the lights so that this problem does not keep happening over and over again.”
MARVIN of Luyang voiced his displeasure about the patches of darkness along many of the housing roads in Dah Yeh Villa.
“The streetlights on the verges do not seem to come on at night,” he said.
“I have noticed this when I drive to Lorong Kenawai 4 as I have family staying here.”
He claimed that the lights in the neighbourhood seemed to function sporadically.
Marvin said there had been occasions when roads, which were previously dark, had been properly lit.
“Earlier this year, the light outside my in-laws’ house was out for more than a week. The problem was reported to City Hall and shortly after this, the lights were functioning.
The lights at this part of Jalan Kolam have failed twice since the end of October.
“A few days later, they were out of order again.”
Marvin said he was tired of constantly having to inform the agency about the streetlight woes there.
ABELIND of Inanam said the lights in front of her house in Taman Inanam Laut had been out of order for months.
She was at a loss to understand how City Hall could have turned a blind eye to this problem.
“There have been several break-ins in the neighbourhood,” Abelind said.
“I fear that the unscrupulous parties are taking advantage of the lack of illumination along the road to carry out these misdeeds.”
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