KUCHING: Pending Assemblywoman Violet Yong has disputed the so-called completion of the project which was announced as already completed by Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) with all the local kapitans on 23 March.
Violet said there are proper guidelines as provided under the Urban Storm Water Management Manual for Malaysia, and going by these guidelines there are still many aspects of the upgrading works needing to be looked into.
She said the so-called completion of the drainage upgrading project was announced by SUPP with all the local kapitans on 23 March, whereby they claimed that the drainage upgrading works had fully completed.
“Today, although with the so-called drainage having been upgraded, there are still many aspects that need the attention of the local government authority (MBKS) to improve. First, during the construction stage they have damaged part of the road surface and until today since they claimed that they have already completed, but the section of the road surface is still not repaired or tarsealed, thereby causing risk and danger to road users particularly at night when the area is quite dark due to insufficient street-lighting.
“Secondly, there is totally no safety measure taken or implemented after the so-called completion of the upgrading project as we have seen there is no handrail or railing being erected to alert the public or to prevent the public or vehicle from falling into the drain.
“This is because we know this so-called monsoon drain during heavy rain the velocity of the water is quite rapid and if someone accidentally falls into it, he or she will straight away be flushed into the river. So it is quite dangerous, making it necessary for handrail to be erected along the drainage as there must be railing to alert and protect people so they would not drive into the drain.
“Thirdly, a lot of the construction debris are still not cleared and still left behind beside the drains making it very messy. And supposedly after the completion of any project especially drains, the road shoulder or the two sides of the drainage must be at least properly planted with grass. So that when it is fully grown with grass it can prevent soil erosion whereby the soil will clog the drain again. And so far we see no grass has been planted and the sides of the drain are paved with lousy soils which are not fertile for grass to grow.
“So what the council should do is they should put proper soil suitable for grass to grow and to hold the water and stop the soil from falling into the drain and clog the drain so that council won’t have to pay extra moneys to clean the drain again.
“The whole things are done hastily and not properly completed,” she told reporters when visiting the site yesterday
The 280-metre upgrading drainage project at the Bintawa Fishing Village, Jalan Bintawa is a RM300,000 plus project.
