The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Easing flood woes
- Council acting on public complains
- Fish breeders losing revenue due to water pollution caused by factory fire
| Posted: 02 Sep 2012 08:15 PM PDT JOHOR BARU: The rainy season expected at the end of the year has forced the Central Johor Baru Municipal Council (MPJBT) to speed up its flood mitigation process. The council's director of drainage and irrigation Rosaidi Ibrahim said that the council had earlier closed Jalan Bakawali 91 as part of the month long flood mitigation programme. "Now we have to close Jalan Rosmerah Utama to carry out the flood mitigation works. "This involves widening of the drains and other works totalling RM760,000," he said during a special briefing on the council's projects here several days ago. He added that adequate road signages would be put up to inform people about the road diversions which would affected thousands of road users. Meanwhile Johor Jaya assemblyman Tan Cher Puk said that the project would take at least one month to complete and Jalan Rosmerah Utama would be closed beginning Aug 31 midnight. "I hope motorist will be patient and understand that they will have to take a four kilometre detour with the closure of both these roads," he said adding that this was part of the MPJBT's RM1.3mil project to improve the drainage system in Johor Jaya. He said hopes that the parents of a Chinese school along Jalan Ros Merah Utama and also those going to a Surau in the area would understand the need for the project to be completed before the rainy season. "This year I was informed that the rainy season may be worse and as such taking the necessary precautions including finishing up flood mitigation projects were important to prevent flash floods," he said. Among the alternative roads include using the Jalan Masai Baru. Pasir Gudang Highway and Jalan Johor Jaya. Tan hoped that all these drainage works together with two retention ponds in Desa Tebrau would help prevent floods in Johor Jaya. "So far the government has spent over RM60mil to deepen and widen Sg Plentong, Sg Tebrau and Sg Pandan since 2010," he said, adding that two years ago, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had personally visited the area during a major flood, which affected more than 1,500 families. He said that MCA had also set up a special unit comprising two of its councillors to ensure that the project was completed on time. Members of the public who wanted to make enquiries or complaints could contact Tan Tuan Peng at 019-6561234 or Cia Chow Hui at 012-7724168. During the briefing, Tan also showed photographs of the major floods in 2009 along Jalan Rosmerah Utama, which caused huge damages to property and vehicles. |
| Council acting on public complains Posted: 02 Sep 2012 05:12 PM PDT KULAIJAYA: Rubbish not collected on time, potholes, grass not trimmed on time and drains clogged are among the top complaints received by the Kulai Municipal Council (MpKu). The council president Mohd Rofiki Shamsuddin said that last year the council received 1,099 complaints from the public on various issues especially on cleanliness. "We have managed to solve more than 93% of these complaints," he said, adding that so far this year the council had received 547 complaints. He added that other complaints include trees not pruned, problems created by wild dogs and even crows. Mohd Rofiki added that the many of the problems were just not handled by the council but also involved cooperation from other agencies such as the public works department and Tenaga Nasional. He added with the end of the year rainy season expected, the council was doing its best to ensure all the drains in housing estates and in its jurisdictions were cleaned to prevent flash floods. "We have 23 zones under MpKu it is a norm each year end to ensure all these areas were free from flash floods," he said after chairing the council's full council meeting here on Friday. Mohd Rofiki added that vandalism was another problem including cable theft and as such the council was now onwards putting up concrete lamp posts in housing estates. "We are also putting the cables for the street lights at the top and no longer concealing it in the ground to deter vandalism. "I think people are not so worried about whether it looks pretty with the wires running at the top as they rather the lights work during the night," he said, adding that this strategy was already implemented in Taman Putri. Meanwhile deputy councillor head Chai Kuek Sen in his speech at the full council said that the councillors were getting many complaints about flash floods in the district especially in Taman Impian Senai, Jalan Senai - Ayer Hitam and Batu 21. "We feel that many of these areas were experiencing flash floods during the rapid development taking place in Taman Indrapura and the drainage system is unable to accommodate the huge volume of water," he said. He hoped that the council would continue to clean up the rubbish and drains to curb the problem. Chai hoped that the drainage and irrigation department (JPS) and the town planning department would take into consideration proper drainage planning when approving development projects. |
| Fish breeders losing revenue due to water pollution caused by factory fire Posted: 02 Sep 2012 08:16 PM PDT JOHOR BARU: Fish breeders in the Teluk Jawa near Masai are losing millions of ringgit in revenue after a vehicle lubricant factory was razed nearby. One of them Koh Kiea Sing, 45, said oil residue from the factory had flowed into the his farm and killed his commodity. "The oil slick will continue to flow towards the sea if clean-up works are not carried out immediately," he added. Koh, who ran his ikan kerapu (garoupa) rearing business over the past 10 years said he was forced to clean the oil slick himself by spraying water to prevent the sludge from entering his area. "I hope that the authorities will do something to prevent our businesses from suffering further loss," he added. Another fish breeder Teo Boon Hing, 39, claimed that a large quantity of his fishes had perished due to the water pollution. "I only realised this on Sunday when my workers noticed the dead fishes floating on the water," added Teo. In relation to the matter, Masai district officer Amran Abdul Rahman along with Permas assemblyman Datuk M. M. Samy and Johor Jaya assemblyman Tan Cher Puk also visited the area to meet with all 10 fish breerers there. Amran said he had alerted all the relevant agencies including the Department of Environment (DOE) to carry out clean up works as soon as possible. "We found out that the sludge, made up of car lubricant and other oil products from the factory has flowed to the fish rearing area from a ditch behind the factory along Sungai Rekok. "The DOE has also taken a sample from around Teluk Jawa for analysis and installed pumps at three main points in the waters to prevent the situation from worsening," he said. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Metro: South & East To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan