City Hall plans to repair the walls of a roadside drain in one part of Likas, while the Public Works Department (PWD) is attending to the exposed section of the covered-drain along the stretch on one side of the Kionsom Flyover.
This action was prompted by feedback about the ponding problem at the first location and the safety risks at the second.
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A Likas homeowner said the drain outside her frontyard on Jalan Basel had a tendency to overflow during a downpour.
She suspected that the flow of the run off was being impeded by those of bits of the concrete wall which had collapsed into the drain and called out the local authority for the lack of maintenance on the structure.
The ratepayer theorised that some newly installed culverts might also be contributing to the flood woes in the area.
She was of the opinion that there was a discrepancy between the level of the culverts and existing roadside drain, with the former structures being higher than the latter.
As a result, she said, the water inside the drain was not being channelled away effectively when it rained.
An Inanam cyclist, meanwhile, spoke out about the hazards posed by the rectangular shaped hole on the section of the Flyover, which heads towards Manggatal.
He said fellow cycling enthusiasts and motorcyclists who were caught unawares – especially at night when visibility was reduced – could easily come to harm as the hole was quite deep.
Both individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent details, regarding their grievances, which were forwarded to the respective agencies.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said two separate inspections were made of the drain on Jalan Basel, after the agency learned about the potential ponding problem in this part of Likas.
“During the first check, the concrete wall for the drain was observed to be intact,” he said. “No damage was found.
“The officer who went down, however, did notice that the wall was no longer upright in some places.”
He said a second check was carried out a month later.
“Parts of the concrete were found to have given way in the section of the drain which was closer to the Likas Lagoon on this occasion.”
The spokesman said repairs to the structure had been included in the list of works which the Engineering Department hoped to accomplish this year.
He said it was in the process of finalising the details to have the wall reconstructed.
“We tentatively hope to have this work completed at some point in 2026”.
When asked how often structural maintenance was made on those drains under City Hall’s maintenance, he said this was done as and when it became necessary to do so.
In the case of the Kionsom Flyover, the PWD intends to cover the exposed section of the drain as soon as it can.
A Department spokesman said some plastic barricades had been placed around rectangular “hole” for the time being.
“One of our concessionaire’s did this shortly after we learned about the cyclist’s concerns,” he said.
He explained that the ‘hole’ was actually a RC [reinforced concrete] sump which gathered the run-off when it rained, so that it could be discharged away from the Flyover.
“The new cover might protrude slightly from the existing drain-covers on the side of the road.
“Nevertheless, it will definitely make it safer for those on bicycle or motorbikes to make use of the Flyover.”
