Daily Express Subscriber
Sign in to your account.

CITY HALL is arranging to improve the condition of an Inanam road and another in Manggatal, following feedback from two road-users about the poor driving experience on these stretches.

A motorist from the first town was unhappy with how the white lines had been restored on the access road to the Seri Warisan Industrial area, after the stretch was resurfaced recently.  

She was at a loss to understand why these demarcations had only been painted on part of the stretch which spanned an estimated distance of some 308 metres.

Her counterpart from Manggatal, on the other hand, bemoaned the inconvenience caused by the damaged sections of the road leading to the Sierra Biz Hub. 

She said numerous potholes had formed on the stretch over the past few months.

These drivers provided Hotline with the pertinent details, regarding their grievances, which were forwarded to the agency.

A spokeswoman for City Hall’s Traffic and Transport Department (TTD) said “pavement strengthening and resurfacing” had been carried out on the road leading to the Seri Warisan Industrial area.

“Our road-patching-gang (RPG) attended to the stretch earlier this year,” she said. 

Premix was poured over affected portion of the road, according to her, with a five-man team of workers using rakes and spades to evenly spread this material across the width of the stretch.

She said the traffic demarcations were put back a few days after the premix was sealed. 

“However, for whatever reason, the RPG did not paint the white lines from end to end. We are in the process of sourcing for funds to have these markings applied to the section which was left out.”

The spokesman said TTD personnel checked on the condition of the road in November, shortly after confirming that the stretch was listed in the agency’s road register.

“They noted, at the time, that some of the affected sections were about the size of a child’s wading pool,” she said. 

“Pools of rainwater may be collecting on the road 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 the stretch.”

The spokeswoman said the agency’s Engineering Department had been informed about the ponding problem on the stretch. 

A spokesman for this Department said its staff would check on the drainage in the area.

“We will have to verify the report about the water pooling on the stretch,” he said. 

“Should it prove to be true, we will keep the road under observation for a period to try and determine why the run-off does not recede once the rain stops.”

Where the Manggatal commercial centre was concerned, the TTD spokeswoman said a check was made of Lorong Biz Hup late last year.

“Our personnel confirmed the driver’s report about the road woes during this inspection,” she said. “They assessed the extent of the damage to the stretch.” 

She said City Hall hoped to begin the repairs “soon” as it had received an allocation to rehabilitate several roads under its care.

“We have appointed a contractor to perform this work which should tentatively get underway by the end of the month.”

The TTD has been upgrading Jalan Plaza GM, which is not far from the Sierra Biz Hub, since the beginning of the year.

Jalan Plaza GM extends between the Grand Merdeka Mall and Taman Rimba.

The spokeswoman said the agency had initially thought to have the improvement to Lorong Biz Hup carried out as part of the on-going effort to refurbish Jalan Plaza GM.

“We ultimately found that it was not feasible to do this,” she said.