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THE Government concessionaire has cleared the roadside drain in a Kepayan neighbourhood, but pointed out that such maintenance will only minimally prevent water from stagnating inside, unless repairs are made to one part of the structure.

To this end, the company hopes that City Hall will consider upgrading the drain along Lorong Rampai as such structural improvement falls outside the management’s scope of work.

The agency’s personnel, meanwhile, have dealt with the back-yard drain behind several homes along Lorong Kenawai 4 in Likas.

Action to attend to these structures was prompted by feedback that they were clogged with water vegetation. 

The rate-payers in Taman Selesa and Taman Dah Yeh Villa, who spoke out about this, were unhappy about the foul smell which had been wafting into their homes from the respective drains. They provided Hotline with the pertinent details regarding this nuisance which were forwarded to the City Hall.

A spokeswoman for City Hall’s Landscaping Department said the concessionaire’s workers de-sludged the front-yard drain on Lorong Rampai, on Saturday.

“The weeds spotted by our Drain Unit (DU) two weeks earlier were also removed,” she said. “The Landscaping inspector who noted this irregularity theorised that this may be the reason why the runoff was collecting in the drain.”

She said the company was informed about this observation. 

The management later got back to the agency about a defect in one part of the structure, according to her.

“The concessionaire’s workers had noticed that the verge outside a house here had been sealed during the latest cleaning effort. The rate-payer who did this may have inadvertently impeded the flow of the water inside as bits of the cement mortar had fallen into the drain and hardened on the base.”

She said the City Hall’s Engineering Department would be apprised of the concessionaire’s finding.

“Our Engineering colleagues will have to determine how best to deal with this problem. They will have to decide whether it warrants upgrading the roadside drain and others in Taman Selesa.” 

In the case of Taman Dah Yeh Villa, the spokeswoman said the DU went to the housing area, two days after the agency was contacted by the press.

“Eight of our workers used ‘cangkuls (hoes)’ to de-silt the common drain at the back of Lorong Kenawai 4, as well as the one running along the side of the complainant’s house,” she said. 

“They also cleared the weeds which were thriving in the layers of mud at the bottom of these structures.”

She said a four-tonne truck was deployed to facilitate efforts to remove the debris from the work.

“The Unit has been asked to check on the condition of the backyard drains in the neighbourhood, from time to time, to ensure that any blockages are dealt with accordingly.”

When it came to the drains along housing roads there, the spokeswoman called on the concessionaire to exercise similar diligence in maintaining these structures

She explained that the company was responsible for maintaining the front-yard drains, while the agency tended to those behind residences under its jurisdiction.

The former amenities were cleaned according to a fixed schedule, with the same being done to the latter once every six-months, according to her.