Beaufort Council, City Hall to work on problem roads
Published on: Thursday, September 14, 2023
By: Sidney Skinner
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One of the company’s personnel in the midst of spreading the asphalt over the potholes.
THE District Council has repaired the road to a Beaufort village and is planning to take up the responsibility of looking after the stretch, while City Hall, is arranging to attend to the damaged sections of a Likas housing road.
This follows feedback about the inconvenience motorists face because of the potholes which have formed on the stretch leading to Kg Shahbandar Padas Damit, as well as the one to Taman Melor.
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The two vehicle owners, who expressed their displeasure about the deteriorating condition of the respective roads, provided Hotline with the pertinent information which was separately forwarded to both agencies.
A member of City Hall’s RPG points to the potholes which formed in this road off Mile 2½ Jalan Tuaran.
A Council spokesman said its staff went to the village earlier this month, shortly after it was contacted by the media.
“They confirmed the presence of potholes in some parts of the sealed road in the area,” he said.
He said the government concessionaire was subsequently informed about the damage and asked to deal with the problem.
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“The company’s workers patched up the affected sections last week on compassionate grounds as a one-off help to drivers in Kg Shahbandar.
“A small trench had to be dug into the verge, in some places, to channel away the rainwater which was pooling on the road.”
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The spokesman said the Council was unable to identify the party which had originally built and asphalted the 3.4 kilometre stretch.
“A check of our records shows that it does belong to us. It is also not listed in the road register for the Public Works Department.
“We will apply to have it included among those roads under the Council’s jurisdiction next year.”
He said the chairman of the “Jawatankuasa Pembangunan dan Keselamatan Kampung (JPKK, Village’s Development and Security Committee)” was personally informed about these developments.
RANI of Beaufort said the damaged parts of the access road to Kg Shahbandar Padas Damit were a source of frustration to many drivers.
“The condition of the stretch has been going from bad to worse as it has not been maintained for years,” he said.
“It is way past time for the road to be resurfaced. If this can’t be done, then premix should at least be used to cover the potholes.”
He felt it was important for the road to be looked after as many of the rural folk depended on the stretch to transport their produce for sale in the town.
“Many of the children living in Kg Shahbandar also use the road to reach their schools.”
Rani suspected that the surface of the road might have become worn down, in places, because of the many heavy vehicles, including 10-tonne lorries, which took this route.
Meanwhile, City Hall will patch up the damaged sections of Lorong Kelepuin, once it manages to replenish its supply of asphalt.
A spokesman for the agency said the lack of this material had held up efforts to repair the access road to Taman Melor.
“Our road patching gang (RPG) noted that there were more potholes than before when they checked on the road last week.”
The spokesman said its RPG would deal with the road once the agency had obtained more asphalt and provided good weather prevailed.
He said City staff had noticed that potholes had formed in the stretch over the past few months.
“This may be an unfortunate consequence of the heavy rains which the district has been experiencing on and off.”
He said scheduled maintenance was carried out on the road from time to time.
“We have received multiple reports going all the way back to November last year about the potholes on the road.”
MIKE of Likas bemoaned the damage to the stretch used to access his home, off Mile 2 ½ Jalan Tuaran.
He estimated that some of the potholes were almost half a metre deep.
“The uneven surface of the road disrupts the alignment of our vehicles,” he said.
“I have also scrapped the undercarriage for my car on numerous occasions.
“There is no way to avoid going over the exposed sections of the asphalt as, in some cases, they spanned the width of the road.”
Mike said he had twice related the poor driving experience on Lorong Kelepuin to City Hall – in November 2022 and January – but nothing had been done to improve the stretch.
“At one stage, I even contacted a local politician about these road woes.
“I hope the authorities do not wait for someone to be injured, or worse, due to a bad accident before they intervene.”
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A member of City Hall’s RPG points to the potholes which formed in this road off Mile 2½ Jalan Tuaran.
