City Hall is weighing up the possibility of flushing the sewer line in one part of Inanam in view of the recurring nuisance created by the overflowing effluent at some shophouses near the town.The Sewage Services Department (SSD), on the other hand, is in the midst of replacing a damaged manhole cover on the main road near the Lido flyover.
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These agencies were responding to separate complaints from a shop operator at the HSK Industrial Centre, off Mile 7 Jalan Tuaran, and a Penampang motorist.
The former said she had lost many potential customers because of the foul-smelling fluids which soiled the stretch in front of her unit, while the latter decried uncovered “hole” between the traffic lanes as being hazardous to those who used Mile 2 Jalan Penampang.
Effluent erupts from this manhole at the HSK Industrial Centre, soiling the surface of the surrounding road.
They provided Hotline with the location of the affected manholes which were forwarded to City Hall and the SSD.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department (ED) said the sewerage at the Inanam Centre was checked twice at the end of April, after it became aware of this problem.
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“More than 24-hours after these pipes were first cleared, they became clogged again,” he said.
Congealed grease were found inside the sewer pipes for the building.
“Our personnel accompanied the contractor, tasked with maintaining these amenities, during the second inspection.”
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He said bits of congealed cooking oil were found to have caused the manholes to overflow in both instances.
“There is a strong likelihood that the activities at the eateries at this commercial centre and the one next door might have given rise to this problem.”
The spokesman said the ED was tossing up whether to use a high-pressure jet of water to dislodge any obstructions in the sewer line servicing the shophouses.
“While deciding whether to proceed, the contractor responsible for maintaining the sewerage at the centre has been asked to step up efforts to clear the pipes.”
“We are working together with our colleagues from the Health and Environment Department (HED) to deal with the problems arising from the haphazard disposal of used cooking oil at food-outlets in this part of Inanam.”
The contractor’s workers hard at work unclogging the blocked sewer line in this section of the shophouses.
A HED spokeswoman said it would arrange to have these establishments jointly-inspected by the agency’s health inspectors and sewerage engineers.
ELLEN of Inanam said effluent had been escaping onto the road around the blocks of shophouses there for more than a month.
“The fluids occasionally ‘erupt’ like mini volcanoes from the manholes,” she said.
“Some of my customers have unknowingly stepped into the soiled water when they got down from their vehicles.
“Others have remarked about how unhealthy it is keep breathing in the noxious fumes.”
A majority have told Ellen that they would think twice about returning to her shop if these sewerage woes persisted.
“I hope City Hall will deal with this problem once and for all as it has cost me a substantial amount of business.”
Meanwhile, the SSD hopes to ease the congestion at Mile 2 Jalan Penampang by the end of the week, once a new manhole cover has been put in place over the exposed section of the stretch.
Drivers, swerving around the damaged metal cover (indicated), cause a jam to form at this part of Jalan Penampang.
A SSD spokeswoman said the previous cover, which was located near the Jalan Lintas-Jalan Penampang traffic light intersection, was found to have been damaged on Tuesday.
“From the way it was cracked, we suspect that a lorry, or some other heavy vehicle, may have run over the cover,” she said.
“Some traffic cones were stationed around ‘the hole’ in the road on the morning that we learned about this problem.”
She said the Department’s staff returned that same night to temporarily seal ‘the hole’ with a round cement slab.
“They also placed a wooden pallet and put up some blinking lights to forewarn road-users about the obstruction which lies in their path.
“We are trying to have a new manhole cover put back as soon as possible for the benefit of the hundreds of drivers who make use of this stretch daily.”
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the spokeswoman said, the SSD hoped to have this done, at the latest, by Friday.
NELLA of Penampang voiced her concern about the inconvenience posed by the cover jutting out of the section the Jalan Penampang, not far from the Lido flyover.
She said the traffic flow was partially impeded by the cover, causing a jam to form as motorists slowed down to swerve round this obstruction.
“The hole in the road also poses a danger to drivers coming down from the Towering and Kobusak areas,” she said.
“If their tyres hit the manhole, they could easily lose control of their vehicle and this could lead to a bad accident.”
“I hope the relevant authority will do something about the cover and hole in the road before anyone comes to harm.”
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