DBKK staff told to be mindful of greenery
Published on: Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
The tree that fell across this Dah Yeh Villa road made it difficult for residents to drive to and from their homes.
CITY HALL staff have been asked to be more mindful about the condition of the greenery growing along roads under its jurisdiction and has asked rate-payers to do the same for the vegetation they plant in the common land outside their fences.
A spokeswoman for the agency’s Landscaping Department said this would go some way to preventing the public from being unduly inconvenienced by any irregularities involving the trees and grass growing on verges within its rating-area.
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“The trees, which belong to us, are pruned as and when it warrants doing so,” she said.
“The grass on the road shoulders, on the other hand, is cut on a monthly basis.”
She said rate-payers, who treated the drain and road reserves as their private gardens, were obliged to maintain their greenery.
“They should look after their plants and trees. This means pruning them and making sure that they do become diseased or unsightly.
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“In this way, their greenery will not become a public nuisance or danger.”
One of the TPU team uses chainsaws to cut the tree into more manageable pieces.
She said this advice also applied to flower-pots placed in the common areas around residential and commercial properties.
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“When it comes to road-shoulders and five-foot ways, rate-payers should use suitable potted plants.
“By ‘suitable,’ we mean greenery that does not have thorns and does not obstruct the view of drivers, or get in the way of pedestrians, when they are fully grown.”
The spokeswoman was responding to feedback about a tree which fell across Lorong Kenawai 4B recently, obstructing traffic to and from homes along this housing road for a few hours.
A homeowner, living in this part of Dah Yeh Villa, contacted Hotline for help. His grievance was forwarded to City Hall.
The spokeswoman said a seven-man team with the agency’s Tree Pruning Unit (TPU) began dealing with the tree around 4.45pm.
“Aside from the press, we received one other call about this matter from a homeowner in the same areas,” she said.
“The tree which fell was about 10 metres in length. Our workers had the road cleared about 30 minutes later.
“Using chainsaws, they cut up the tree trunk into more manageable pieces which were then loaded onto the back of an open truck.”
She said the team returned a week later to remove the root-system which had been left behind earlier.
A landscaping worker ascends in City Hall’s sky-lift to trim the branches of the trees overlooking this substation at Jalan Sang Kancil.
“A backhoe was deployed to enable our workers to do this. The hole left behind, where the root-system had been, was subsequently filled with earth and levelled.”
Shortly before its efforts in Dah Yeh Villa, the TPU tended to some overgrown trees which were looming over some electricity cables and a substation in one part of Karamunsing.
A spokesman for the Landscaping Department said an open truck and City Hall’s sky-lift, with an articulated arm, were deployed to Jalan Sang Kancil in this instance.
“One of our staff went up with a chainsaw in the machine which can reach an elevation of about 12 meters,” he said.
“The trees had grown to a substantial height so this personnel only managed to trim those branches which he could reach.”
Owing to this, he said, the agency was looking into the possibility of hiring an alternative sky-lift which could go up higher so that the TPU could have the trees pruned properly.
This is the second time over the past two months that the trees have been dealt with.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) technicians pruned the ends of the branches, nearest to these installations, at the beginning of February and returned a fortnight later to clean up the trimmings.
The Landscaping spokesman said the company enlisted City Hall’s help to deal with the trees last month.
“A preliminary check revealed that they belonged to us and had been planted years ago.”
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