CITY officers will be looking out for litterbugs at the Segama Waterfront over the Harvest Festival and the Agong’s birthday public holidays to ensure that those who gather here clean up after themselves and do not leave this common area in a mess.
The foreshore and seawall in the Likas Bay area, near the Anjung Selera foodcourt, will likewise be kept under watch for the same reason during the break.
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A spokesman for the agency’s Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) said anyone caught disposing of their refuse indiscriminately risked being served with a compound for as much as RM500 under its Anti-Litter ByLaws 1984 (Amendment 2005).
“We are aware that both locations are popular with many of the public who come to watch the sunset, enjoy the sea breeze or picnic,” he said.
“However, if they fail to be more civic minded, when it comes to getting rid of their rubbish, and are witnessed littering, then we will not hesitate to take them to task.”
A member of City Hall’s Sea and River Unit digs out the rubbish caught between the boulders near the seawall.
To show that it means business, City Hall mounted an “Ops Bersih” at the Segama Waterfront and Likas Bay in the middle of the month.
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The spokesman said a total of 32 errant individuals were compounded during this exercise.
SWMD personnel in plain clothes made two separate checks of the Waterfront, specifically the section near the roundabout with the statue of the Marlin: on May 13 and again on May 21, according to him.
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He said their surveillance was carried out between 6pm–11pm in each instance.
“About 12 litterbugs were nabbed on the first inspection and another 17 during the second.
“Three members of the public were caught by our staff when they patrolled the section of Likas Bay around Anjung Selera for two hours on May 20.
He said those who repeatedly disregarded the agency’s calls to refrain from littering could wind up having legal action taken against them.
“They will be liable to a fine for as much as RM10,000, if they are found guilty in court.”
Aside from the SWMD, City Hall’s Enforcement Department had also been monitoring the goings-on at the Segama Waterfront.
A spokesman for the latter said an “Ops Payung” and “Ops Degil (Anti-litter)” was conducted from 9am till after dark between April 4 and 21.
“No compounds for littering were issued during either of these ‘Ops’,” he said.
When asked about the existing public waste disposal amenities at the Waterfront and Likas Bay area, a spokeswoman for the agency’s Landscaping Department said there were 13 rubbish bins around the first location.
“Where Likas Bay is concerned, we have a total of 148 such receptacles spread out over a five-kilometre span,” she said.
She said this distance encompassed the public area near the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) to the bridge near the Tun Mustapha Tower.
There were about 32 bins, between the SICC and the bridge at the first beach, according to her, 35 between the first beach and the roundabout near the State Mosque, 49 between the Mosque and Anjung Selera and 32 between the foodcourt and the Bridge near the Tun Mustapha Tower.
“Each of these bins can contain as much as 40kg of garbage.”
The spokeswoman said these receptacles were cleared daily by Landscaping staff, with the ones at the Waterfront area dealt with as early as 5am.
“Our Public Park Unit is responsible for attending to the bins at the Likas Bay Public Park, as well as those along the jogging-cum-cycleway.”
Landscaping staff put their backs into clearing the bins along the jogging-cum-cycleway in Likas Bay.
The SWMD spokesman said it would consider having more of these receptacles temporarily placed at the Segama Waterfront during public holidays, if it warranted doing so.
He said the Department’s personnel ferreted out a total of 55kgs of rubbish near the seawall which extends from the SICC to the Likas Bay Public Park recently.
The refuse was cleared from the boulders near the seawall on three separate occasions, according to him.
“The volume of rubbish, which the team with our Sea and River Unit found, was enough to fill 11 gunny sacks,” he said.
He said, on average, each sack could hold about 5kgs of garbage.