THE Municipal Council will step up efforts to maintain the common areas in Taman Landmark, including the back-yard drains and grass on the reserves around homes in the Penampang neighbourhood.
On top of this, the agency called on the government concessionaire to exercise similar diligence when it came to cleaning the roadside drains in the housing area.
City Hall made the same appeal to the company concerning the front-yard drains in Taman Selesa, Kepayan.
Two rate-payers – one living on Lorong Landmark 2 in Penampang, the other on Lorong Rampai in Kepayan – provided Hotline with the location of the unkempt reserves and blocked drains in their areas. This information was forwarded to the Council and City Hall.
A spokesman for the former agency said an inspection was made of Lorong Landmark 2, shortly after it was contacted by the media.
“Our staff found that the water in the drain behind this housing road had turned black and while the land on the shoulders was covered with weeds and short shrubs,” he said.
A team of workers with the Council’s Urban Services Department returned to the neighbourhood a few days later, according to him, to clean the common drain at the back of homes on the stretch.
“We are arranging to deal with the overgrown greenery on the reserve in the vicinity. One of our contractors may come in to tend to this land.”
When asked how often the back-yard drains in Taman Landmark were attended to, the spokesman said the Council tried to have these structures maintained twice a month on a rotating schedule throughout the municipality.
“We do not have enough manpower to consistently keep to this schedule.
“Given the extensiveness of our rating area, the six-man crew, which looks after those residential properties under our jurisdiction, cannot be everywhere at once.”
The spokesman said its officers noted that one section of the front-yard drains, off Lorong Landmark 2, was clogged with this vegetation.
“Our staff got the impression that water inside 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.”
City Hall adheres to the same division of responsibilities, according to a spokeswoman for its Landscaping Department.
She said the front-yard drains were cleaned by the firm according to a fixed schedule, with the agency attending to those behind homes on a quarterly basis.
“If necessary, our workers will try to come in even before the scheduled cleaning, to deal with any complaints involving the back-yard drains,” she said.
In the case of Taman Selesa, she said Landscaping staff confirmed that the water was not flowing properly in one section of the roadside drains as grass and traces of a green scum were found inside.
“We have appealed to the concessionaire to double-down on action to de-silt the affected section on Lorong Rampai.”
