The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- School’s green effort rewarded
- Water woes to be solved soon
- Strong support for historical site to be made into a public park
| School’s green effort rewarded Posted: 20 Jun 2011 07:01 PM PDT KOTA KINABALU: Students and teachers of SM St Michael have transformed their school into a shining example for going green and preserving the environment. And the efforts of this school in Penampang near here has not gone unnoticed as they were awarded the Sekolah Lestari (Sustainable School)-Environmental Award 2009/2010 on Thursday, beating 12 other schools in the country and taking home a cool RM10,000 in the process. It has been a long and winding road in terms of physical work and mental battle to convince nonchalant students to take on the green initiative. But SM St Michael principal, Marie Yong Pik Hua, who also received special recognition for encouraging her students to go green, believed perseverance and hard work would overcome all obstacles. "I became principal in September 2006 and started planning the programmes. It was not easy but i was not alone as the teachers, students and community chipped in. "We didn't have money at first so the parents and community really helped. And we have to be very patient with the students as every year there will be new ones coming in," she said. The school has about 50 green programmes from a recycling centre to a rain harvesting system and vegetable garden while each class is also tasked with planting and looking after five trees in another garden. The school is also involved in a river adoption programmes. Gilloni Gilbert, 16, president of the school's Wira Alam club, said the students even made outreach trips to other schools to share the environmental and conservation activities in their school. "We even talk about how difficult it is to change the attitude from not caring to going green. "The students in my school hope to inspire their peers in our community first before thinking of the bigger world out there," he said. The award, presented by Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, is a joint programme under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Environment and Development Institute (Lestari). The award is given to schools that show excellent education of green practices. Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Tung Hua Sibu, Sarawak also received a similar award for the primary school category. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:59 PM PDT Some 50,000 residents in several housing areas along Jalan Kuantan-Gambang, faced with water shortage since June 7 will get their supply restored by early next month. The Kuantan District Water Supply Department civil engineer Aminuddin Mesir said the shortage was unavoidable because a 600mm pipe had burst at KM10 and this was only traced a few days after receiving from residents. Aminuddin said his staff had difficulty in ascertaining the location of the broken pipe because it was beneath a construction site of a flyover bridge at the Kuantan-Pekan junction. He said prior to the construction of the bridge, an agreement between the contractor and his department to divert the pipe line for the water supply had been entered into. However, the diversion could only be done after construction works had been completed. "We assumed the weight of the reclaimed sand for the construction of the flyover bridge might have caused the pipe line to burst. "And since the pipe burst was deep underneath the bridge, it was difficult for us to trace the problem. "The contractor has agreed to do the diversion works as soon as possible, ahead from the actual schedule as the broken pipeline measuring 600mm is being fixed," he said after inspecting the construction wworks to bury the pipe line at KM10 here recently. Also present at the site were state Water Supply Department's customer service assistant director Jailani Jasman and the department state Public Relation officer Jaafar Abdullah. Aminuddin said, however, there were also alternative pipelines measuring 200mm to supply water to the affected areas. "Through this smaller pipelines, only a few affected areas including Taman Mahkota Jaya, Taman Tas, Taman Tas Ria and Taman Seri Ku received supply. Water tankers were deployed around the clock to supply water to residents since day one of the shortage," he said. Aminuddin also said a few residents did not receive supply because they were not at home when the lorries arrived at their areas. "I hope residents can now understand the situation," he said. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Strong support for historical site to be made into a public park Posted: 20 Jun 2011 06:58 PM PDT KOTA KINABALU: The Heritage Sabah group opposing the construction of a 16-storey shopping mall in the heart of the city received tremendous support from members of the public urging the relevant authorities to turn the historical site into a public park. The crowd comprising mainly of Sabahan youths and heritage lovers gathered on Saturday morning at the site of the city's 106-year-old wooden clock tower to show their support for heritage conservation, reiterating their call that the controvesial project to be built only 6.3 metres away from the historic clock tower, be scraped. Wearing T-shirts bearing the words 'save our heritage — atkinson clock tower' and carrying a large banner with the same slogan, the group and their supporters camped out at the base of the clock tower, took photos to commemorate the event and shared stories about the history of Kota Kinabalu and the clock tower. Heritage Sabah group spokesperson Richard Nelson Sokial said a majority of Sabahans believed that the matter has been resolved and the clock tower was safe from harm. "The issue of the 16-storey shopping mall hotel next to the clock tower has been dragged out for such a long time to the point that many Sabahans have been misled into thinking that the Atkinson Clock Tower is now safe. However, it is not. "The construction of the shopping mall has only been delayed for a judicial review. The project has not been cancelled yet," Sokial added. The 106-year-old clock tower built in 1905, was the center of controversy last year when it was exposed through social network site Facebook that a 'silent' project was being built on city's last green lung and historical site. The project was revealed to be an enormous 16-storey commercial shopping mall hotel, a joint venture between Sabah Housing and Town Development Authority (SHTDA) and a company here. A housewife and a social activist have filed for a judicial review of the 16-storey shopping mall project – naming Kota Kinabalu City Hall, SHTDA and Central Board as the parties accountable for the controversial approval of the project. Meanwhile, the fate of the clock tower and its surrounding green area remains in limbo. "We believe the minute the citizens become complacent, the shopping mall project will most likely resume again. It will ruin our city." "Our gathering today is important because it will go down in history that Sabah's younger generation are the moving force behind the growing Sabah heritage awareness campaign. "The young people of KK are now well-educated, vocal and very much aware of the importance of protecting our historical landmarks," Sokial added. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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