The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:36 AM PDT TAX PAYMENT Kuala Lumpur City Hall will be opening payment counters from now until Aug 26 at selected shopping centres to facilitate assessment tax payment for the second term of 2011. The counters are located at: Berjaya Times Square, LG Floor(11am-8pm), Jusco Maluri Shopping Centre G Floor (10am-9pm), Jusco Metro Prima Kepong, G Floor (10am-8pm), Mid Valley Megamall, 1st South Area 2, 1st Floor (10.30am-9.30pm). Ratepa-yers are required to bring along their assessment tax bills when making payment. For enquiries, call 03-2617 9950. EARLY CLOSURE All museums under the Depart-ment of Museums Malaysia will be closing 30 minutes earlier until Aug 30, to allow its staff to prepare for buka puasa. The operating hours are from 9am to 5.30pm. The museums involved are the National Museum, Sg Lembing Museum in Pahang, National Automobile Museum in Sepang, Lukut Museum in Negri Sembilan and Kota Kuala Kedah Museum in Kedah. For more information, visit www.jmm.gov.my. WATER DISRUPTION Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) is conducting an arrears operation in the Klang Valley this month. Customers are advised to pay their bills to avoid water cuts. The affected areas are Kuala Lumpur District, Petaling District, Gombak District, Klang and Shah Alam, Hulu Langat and Hulu Selangor. Users will be charged RM50 for water supply reconnection. For details, call Puspel's toll free line at 1-800-88-5252, SMS by typing Puspel HEALTH TALK Tung Shin Hospital Kuala Lumpur is organising a free Antenatal and Postnatal Talk on August 13, Saturday from 1.30pm to 4.30pm. The talk will be presented by Dr. Chuah Bee Poh, Consultant OB&G and Dr. Chew Bee Bee, Consultant Pediatrician in English, Malay and Mandarin at Level 5, CMD, Tung Shin Hospital. Contact Cheryl at 03-20372388 or 016-9099665 for registration. BUBUR LAMBUK In the spirit of Ramadan, KDU University College, The School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts will be distributing free bubur lambuk at the entrance of its Damansara Jaya Campus on Aug 19 from 2pm to 5pm on a first come first served basis. LANE CLOSURE There will be staggered lane closure along the Shah Alam Highway between 10pm and 6am till Nov 30 to facilitate work on pavements. For enquiries, call Kesas hotline at 03-5633 7188 or visit www.kesas.com.my. REUNION DINNER Han Chiang High School Upper Six class of 1980 will be having a reunion dinner themed "Hawaii 80-50" at E & O Hotel in Penang on Aug 13 at 7pm. All students and teachers from the year are welcome, To make reservations, call Boon Keong (012-478 3395) or Puva (012-459 5831). Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Posted: 09 Aug 2011 04:35 AM PDT Effective Aug 1, the local authorities have taken over cleaning services from Alam Flora. StarMetro speaks to the various councils and some residents about the change. KAJANGstyle="color:#D8588E"> KAJANG Municipal Council president Datuk Hassan Nawawi Abdul Rahman said the council would take over the management of public cleaning contractors from Alam Flora. "The current 116 contractors will continue to work for an interim period of three months. "Some 2,158 contractors, including the existing ones, have applied for public cleaning duties during the open tender," he said. He added that the contractors would be monitored during the three months and those not up to the mark would be replaced. With the change of management, Mohamad Nazrin Mohd Ibarin, a supervisor for cleaning duties in Kajang, hoped they could receive their payments on time. "Alam Flora did not pay us on time, there were times when the payment was delayed for two to three months. "I have five workers under my supervision and all I can do is to ask them to be patient when the payment is late. "We hope the council can have a fixed date for payments and adhere to it," he said. However, many residents are unaware of the change. Taman Sungai Chua resident Eric Seow was in the dark over the transition and hoped the contractors would perform better under the council's management. "The grass in front of our houses are properly cut but our backlanes are overgrown with grass. Maybe the grass-cutters don't feel comfortable with the residents' dogs in the backyard. "Only time will tell if the change of management will lead to better results," he said. Fellow Kajang resident Chan Yong Niok, 57, was also unaware of the change and hoped the contractors could clean the drains thoroughly instead of cleaning only part of the drains. "Drains overflow during heavy downpours. I have told them to clean it thoroughly but to no avail," he said. SHAH ALAMstyle="color:#80BFFF"> CLEANING works within the jurisdiction of the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) started on Aug 1, following a directive from the state. Mayor Datuk Mohd Jaafar Mohd Atan said MBSA's duties now involved monitoring the 163 contractors appointed for cleaning works such as grass cutting, sweeping the roads and the cleaning of drains. "The contractors appointed are the same as those Alam Flora had previously engaged, so nothing has changed. These contractors are working based on their previous timetables and locations," he said. The council will be monitoring the contractors' work during the three-month stint which will end in October. "We are not sure what will happen after October as we are only following what the state government has told us to," he said. Mohd Jaafar added that payment and appointment of the contractors was not by the council but by the state. "For now we have not received any complaints from residents yet since the takeover. "We hope everything will be fine," he said, adding that the council also plans to purchase garbage disposal trucks in the future to serve as "back-ups". He said the trucks would be utilised during events hosted by the state or the council as these duties came under Alam Flora prior to the takeover. SELAYANGstyle="color:#80BFFF"> CLEANING works in the Selayang municipality will be carried out by the existing 91 contractors to ensure cleanliness in all zones. Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) president Datuk Zainal Abidin Aala said the council paid the contractors every month to continue working to keep Selayang clean. Zainal Abidin, who was tight-lipped about whether the contractors for the cleaning works like grass-cutting, drain-cleaning and road-sweeping were the same ones engaged by Alam Flora, insisted that what mattered most was that Selayang was clean. "For that reason, we have our Environment and Town Services and Recreation and Park departments to look into it. "Cleaning work is carried out by our contractors because there are tonnes of rubbish each day. If contractors don't do their duties, we will take action against them. "When a contract ends, we will extend the contracts but we don't know if it would be the same contractors," said Zainal. Taman Pinggiran Batu Caves resident, M. Doraisamy, 65, said there were no problems when it came to road sweeping and rubbish collection in his area but that drain cleaning had been an issue for over two years. He said drains in the area had dense undergrowth and complaints had been made to the relevant authority (which was Alam Flora then), but that the condition had not improved. "Looks like we have to make a new complaint and this time to the council as cleaning works are under them now," he said. Another resident Lawrence Nathan, 62, from Bandar Baru Selayang, feels that cleaning and maintenance works in his area had been going on as usual. "I don't see any difference as the cleaning works, such as grass cutting and road-sweeping are going on as usual. It's consistent," he added. SUBANGstyle="color:#80BFFF"> CLEANING services and maintenance works in areas under the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) remains status quo, said a reliable source. "It will remain status quo, pending a state government directive or court decision," he said. The state government had earlier announced that grass-cutting and maintenance services previously provided by Alam Flora will now be taken over by the local authorities. However, Alam Flora will continue to provide domestic garbage collection service. It was reported earlier that Alam Flora had sought a judicial review at the Shah Alam High Court over the decision by the state government to get local councils to take over cleaning services from the company. Alam Flora had also asked for a court injunction to stop the state government or the local councils from inviting tenders for waste disposal. "For now, the MPSJ has retained the same contractors that were previously engaged by Alam Flora to carry out cleaning services and maintenance work," said the MPSJ source. He said there had been no change in the routine cleanliness and maintenance schedule in areas under the MPSJ's administration. This includes grass-cutting twice a month along main roads and in residential areas, and drain-cleaning twice a month in residential areas and four times a month in commercial/ business areas. SS17 resident AB Naicker noted that there had been a drop in the level of cleaning services in recent months. "There is debris left lying around and the contractors are not coming as often as they should. "We will give time to the MPSJ to get its act together during the transition period, and bring the matter up at JKP (Residents Committee) and MPSJ meetings to document the problem," said the JKP Zone 1 committee member. Freddie Sung and TK Lee, who stay in SS15 and SS14 respectively, said there had been no change in terms of cleaning of streets and drains. "It is still too early to say since the change was only implemented recently," said Lee. "We will give the authorities time before we determine whether there is any improvement or deterioration in terms of the service." PETALING JAYAstyle="color:#80BFFF"> CLEANING works like cutting grass, scooping up sediments at road curbs, sweeping up the garden refuse and removing silt from drains would soon see newly appointed contractors taking over the job from Alam Flora Sdn Bhd come Aug 16. Alam Flora will be left in charge of garbage collection while Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) would oversee the cleaning work which would be carried out by 77 cleaning firms. All contractors are expected to receive their letters from the Selangor government next week. PJ City Council's public relations officer Zainun Zakaria said the Selangor government had vetted 77 cleaning firms on the recommendation of the council and are now waiting for their official letters to start work, based on neighbourhood zones. She said this was important because local authorities had been receiving many complaints on cleanliness. "Our contractors will manage the cleaning services and leave only the solid waste disposal to Alam Flora as instructed by the Selangor government. Our arrangement now is that 67 of the cleaning contractors will take over the public cleaning while the other 10 firms will be categorised as waste busters to clean up illegal dumps created overnight," she said. Zainun added that from now until Aug 15, Alam Flora will continue with the cleaning services. "On Aug 16, residents will see a new team in their neighbourhood and the contractors will do their best to ensure the residential areas are clean. Our contractors will carry out grass cutting, sweeping it up and cleaning the drains," she said. Zainun said apart from that, the contractors would be required to clean up the pasar malam and pasar pagi in the respective zones. In April, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had said the state government was planning to spend about RM200mil for cleaning work. Khalid was also reported to have said that 10-years ago all the cleaning tasks were done by the local authorities and they are now reverting to the old way. Alam Flora's initial role was only to deal with garbage collection and disposal. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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