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CITY HALL has called on the government concessionaire to be more mindful of the condition of the roadside drains around Telipok town to ensure that these amenities do not become clogged with water vegetation. 

The Public Works Department (PWD), meanwhile, will step up efforts to clean those drains around Donggongon which are under its jurisdiction.

This action was prompted by feedback from a Telipok shopowner and Penampang motorist about the lack of maintenance carried out on the drains at these locations.

They had noticed that the run off from these structures had a tendency to overflow onto the access roads to the Telipok Synergy Square Commercial Centre and Tun Fuad Stephens Community Centre, when it rained heavily.

Both individuals provided Hotline with the location of the affected drains which was forwarded to the relevant agencies.

A spokeswoman for City Hall’s Landscaping Department said a preliminary inspection was made of the Jalan Stesen TV Lawamandau-Lorong Synergy Square 1 junction, shortly after it was contacted by the media.

“Our staff confirmed that a 204metre length of the drain along both roads was blocked with bits of rubbish and weeds,” she said 

She said a team from its Drain Unit (DU) went to this part of the town 10 days later.

“Seven of our workers used rakes and ‘cangkul (hoes)’ to fish out the muck and mud from the drain.” 

On top of this, team attended to the section of the structure which runs below the turn off to the Commercial Centre.

She said a four-tonne truck was deployed to transport away the debris.

“Our staff observed that a concrete strut bisected the drain beneath the grills. Owing to this, the run-off cannot reach the outlet for the drain which is located at a higher level.”

She said this finding would be forwarded to the agency’s Engineering Department (ED) “Our peers here are in a better position to decide on the nature of the improvement which should made to improve the flow of water in the drain.”

A ED spokesman said it would arrange to check on what had been transpiring along the drain at the junction to Telipok Synergy Square.

“Our staff will have assess the condition of this structure, before we can proceed with further action,” he said. “We will have to determine whether the outlets and gradients for both structures warrant our attention.”  

The spokeswoman explained that the recent cleaning effort at the junction was carried out on a goodwill basis.

“The government concessionaire has been tasked with looking after the drain between the Jalan Stesen TV Lawamandau and Lorong Synergy,” she said.

Where the Community Hall was concerned, the Penampang Municipal Council was initially informed about the drainage woes along Jalan Dewan Masyarakat Ppg.

A spokesman for the agency said it was helpless to intervene as the problem involved a drain which did not belong to the Council.

“We informed the PWD about the driver’s observations and urged the administration to look into her concerns,” he said. 

A Department spokesman for the firm said the structure was attended to a few days after we became aware of what had been transpiring in this part of Donggongon.

“Our concessionaire’s workers removed the water vegetation which were thriving in drain along the junction from Jalan Donggongon Kasigui to Jalan Dewan Masyarakat Ppg,” he said.

He estimated that this structure covered a distance of about 250metres.

“The PWD drains around the town are dealt with twice a year. However, if it warrants doing so, the company will be alerted to attend to these structures even before the scheduled cleaning.”

The spokesman said the Department’s staff would be asked to keep tabs on the condition of these structures from time to time to facilitate this effort.