Don’t use toilets as dustbins, Luyang folks told
Published on: Tuesday, March 05, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
The stilt house (right) has been standing beside this Inanam sewage treatment plant for ‘more than a decade’.
CITY Hall is appealing to rate-payers in a Luyang housing area to refrain from treating their toilets as dustbins and is checking on the goings-on at an Inanam sewage treatment plant (STP).
This follows feedback about the nuisance created by effluent escaping from some manholes at the former, as well as the presence of a stilt house which has been built near the latter facility.
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The individuals, who spoke out about these irregularities, provided Hotline with the location of the affected structures.
The contractor’s workers trying to break up the blockage inside the pipes servicing this Luyang manhole.
This information was forwarded to the agency.
A spokesman for the agency’s Engineering Department (ED) said a check was made of the manholes on Lorong Unta 11 shortly after it learned what was transpiring there.
“Our contractor noticed that sewage was ponding in certain parts of the road,” he said.
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“His workers opened the metal covers of those manholes in the vicinity and found that black fluid inside had reached the brim.”
They subsequently set about performing “sewer rodding” to dislodge the blockages in the pipes, according to him.
The effluent pooling on the road was a source of frustration to road users and those living in Taman Southern.
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“Everything from sanitary pads to household waste – including slippers, empty containers and discarded plastic wrappers – was pulled out from inside.
“These items had been indiscriminately flushed down the pipes but it was impossible to tell who could have done this.”
He said the Department would try to make the community there more aware of the inconvenience created by their “lack of discipline and inconsiderate” actions.
When asked how often the sewerage for the neighbourhood was maintained, the spokesman said this was done according to a fixed schedule.
“The contractor is supposed to make weekly inspections. Given the hundreds of residential areas which fall within our rating area, however, it can sometimes be difficult to keep up with this routine.”
PRUDENCE of Likas said the tyres of her car were soiled by the foul smelling fluid coming from one of the manholes.
“I had gone to visit a friend living in Taman Southern,” she said. “I splashed through what I thought was a puddle while driving to her house.”
When Prudence got home half an hour later, she was shocked to find that the body of her car smelt like a toilet and she had to hose down the vehicle
“I suspected that the liquid which splashed on my car may have been sewage.”
‘Sewer rodding’ being carried out on the section of the sewer line beneath Lorong Unta 11.
Her suspicions were confirmed when she went to visit the same friend a few days later.
“It was only then that I noticed the fluid was spilling out of a manhole and onto the road.”
Meanwhile, City Hall is trying to determine the status of a stilt house which overlooks an STP along the road leading to Kingfisher Cove Garden.
The spokesman said it had yet to assume responsibility for the property’s sewerage.
“The plant is still under the developer’s maintenance,” he said. “We are uncertain what the house has to do with the facility.
“A preliminary check with our Building Control Department, however, revealed that this structure was not part of the original development plan for the neighbourhood.”
A spokesman for the agency’s Traffic and Transport Department said the access road to Kingfisher Cove was handed over to City Hall earlier this year.
When asked when the developer was likely to relinquish its responsibility for the STP to City Hall, the ED spokesman said it was difficult to say when this would happen.
THAD of Inanam was under the impression that the stilt house might have been illegally constructed.
“It has been standing beside the Plant for more than a decade,” he said.
“I suspect that whoever lives here has been stealing power from the facility.”
The ED spokesman said there was no way to verify the pilferage as the electricity meter was not in City Hall’s name.
“It is best left to Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd to determine if the supply is being misappropriated,” he said.
“If this were the case, the firm can then take the appropriate action.”
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