Playground, drains at Taman Sahabat in bad shape
Published on: Tuesday, August 06, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
The Council’s grass-cutters tend to the overgrown land on the periphery of the neighbourhood’s basketball court.
The Municipal Council will step up efforts to maintain the playground for Taman Sahabat, including the drains, greenery and equipment at the open space in this part of Penampang.
The agency has also called on the government concessionaire to exercise similar diligence when it comes to clearing the drains along roads in the neighbourhood.
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This action was prompted by feedback from a rate-payer about the poor condition of one section of the playground and some of the frontyard drains in the housing area.
The individual provided Hotline with the pertinent details regarding these irregularities. This information was forwarded to the agency.
A Landscaping personnel takes photos of the damaged playground equipment in Taman Sahabat.
A Council spokesman said its Landscaping and Urban Services Divisions were made aware about the problems with the playground and the drains.
He said staff with the former Division confirmed that some of the playground equipment had fallen into a state of disrepair, during an inspection on Sunday.
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“They observed that seats for many of the swings had splintered and the planks for one or two seesaws were missing,” he said.
“The benches, on the other hand, served no purpose as most of the wood had either become rotten or were missing.”
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He said its personnel snapped photos of the damage to the various public amenities around the open space in Taman Sahabat.
The affected equipment was later cordoned off behind some security tape, according to him
“We hope that parents get the message and do not allow their children to use these amenities to avoid injury.”
The spokesman said the agency was arranging to refurbish this equipment.
“The less durable wooden and rusty fixtures will be replaced with those made from hardier material like plastic and stainless steel.
“We are in the midst of sourcing for these new components.”
Workers with the Council’s Urban Services Division use rakes to remove the water hyacinths from the drain around the playground.
He said a fresh coat of paint would be applied to the equipment once the new fixtures had been put in place.
When asked about the state of the neighbourhood’s basketball court, he said this amenity was found to be in good order.
“We suspect that some Good Samaritan upgraded the various fixtures, at some point, and even repainted the demarcations on the floor of the court.”
The spokesman said there were about 276 neighbourhoods within the Council’s rating-area.
“About 114 of these properties have playgrounds. One of our staff goes round to check on the condition of the equipment at least once every three months.”
The agency tried to have any overgrown trees on the periphery of the playgrounds pruned on a bimonthly basis, according to him.
“The drains around these open spaces are cleaned according to a similar frequency, while the grass is cut once each month.”
On remarks that the land on the periphery of the basketball court had become overgrown, he said the authority’s Urban Services Division tended to the unkempt greenery last week.
“Our grass-cutters went in first and, then two days afterwards, six of our workers returned to deal with the drains around the playground.
“The second group removed the water hyacinths and mud from inside.”
The drain around the playground is cleaned once every two months.
The spokesman said its officers noted that some of the drains along the housing roads in Taman Sahabat were also clogged with this vegetation.
“Our staff got the impression that water inside these structures had become stagnant.”
He said the concessionaire was apprised of these observations and urged to take the necessary action.
“Maintenance of the front yard drains around the municipality falls under the company’s purview, while the Council is responsible for looking after those outside the back yard.”
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