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THE Public Works Department (PWD) will step up its surveillance of the access road to the Sabah Art Gallery and Sabah State Archives, off Jalan Penampang, to ensure that any damage is dealt with promptly.

City Hall, meanwhile, has vowed to be equally mindful about the condition of those stretches near a Manggatal commercial centre, off Mile 3½ Jalan Tuaran, which fall under its jurisdiction.

The former agency completed 80 per cent of the repairs to a section of Jalan Arkib (yesterday), while the latter may make similar repairs to Lorong Bizhup.

This action was prompted by feedback from a motorist, who visited the Gallery, and a shopowner at the Sierra Biz Hub about the inconvenience caused by the potholes which had formed in the stretches at these respective locations.

The first individual was under the impression that the damage on Jalan Arkib may have been there for some time due to the presence of a young banana plant which was protruding from the pothole. 

He suspected that this foreign object could have been placed there by some irate road-user with the intention of coercing the local authorities into attending to the stretch.

The driver and Manggatal proprietor related their grievances separately to Hotline, providing the location of the “trouble spots” on the affected roads. This information was forwarded to both agencies.

A PWD spokesman said a check of its records revealed that Jalan Arkib was listed in the Department’s road-register.

He said an inspection was made of the stretch shortly, after it was contacted by the media.

“Our personnel confirmed that a sinkhole had formed at a bend on Jalan Arkib, not far from the junction from Lorong Perdana 4,” he said. “There is a drain running beneath this section of the road. 

“One of our concessionaires was made aware of these findings.”

He said the management immediately set about reinstating the road, including having “pavement strengthening” carried out.

“A team of workers from the company went to the site on Monday. They placed some plastic barricades around the sinkhole to alert road-users to swerve around the damaged section.”

An excavator and open truck, bearing some gravel, was deployed to Jalan Arkib a day later, according to him.

“A rectangular section of the asphalt, around the sinkhole, was removed and later filled with stones. 

“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the firm’s personnel will have a new layer of asphalt applied to this part of the road on Wednesday.”

When asked how often maintenance was performed on the road, he said the concessionaire attended to the stretch according to a fixed schedule.

“Nevertheless, in light of the recent problems, we have urged the management to be more mindful about the roads under its care and to deal with any damage promptly.”

City Hall was initially contacted about what had transpired on Jalan Arkib.

A spokeswoman for the agency’s Traffic and Transport Department said it was helpless to intervene on this matter as City Hall was not responsible for maintaining the road.

“The most we could do was inform the PWD about the driver’s concerns,” she said.

Where Lorong Bizhup was concerned, she said City Hall was in the midst of verifying the damage to the road.

She said the agency would have to determine whether the stretches around the Sierra Biz Hub were listed in the agency’s road-register.

“Should this prove to be the case, then our Road Patching Gang (RPG) will be asked to check on the condition of these stretches, including Lorong Bizhup,” she said.

“Our technicians will have to assess the extent of the damage so that remedial action can be taken to ease the inconvenience caused to drivers who use these roads.”

If need be, the spokeswoman said, the agency would also try to deal with any ponding problem which might be causing the potholes to form there.

“Pools of rainwater may be collecting on the stretches after a downpour.  In some cases, the runoff could takes days to dry up. During this time, sections of the asphalt get eaten away by these fluids, leaving ‘holes’ in these roads.”

She said the agency could potentially have “cross culverts” at strategic locations there to mitigate the ponding problem.

“Only then can we can proceed with having the affected roads resurfaced from end to end.”