The Penampang Municipal Council is monitoring the public lighting on Jalan Bundusan to ensure that road-users have a better driving experience at night, while City Hall has vowed to do the same on Lorong Industri Warisan 1 and Lorong Burung Kenari 5B.
This follows feedback from three motorists about the lack of illumination along the roads which they used to reach their homes in Taman Reservoir, Kg Kapak and Taman Likas Jaya.
These individuals separately provided Hotline with the pertinent details regarding their grievances, which were forwarded to the relevant agencies.
A Council spokesman said an inspection was made of the streetlights between Lorong Reservoir Garden 1 and the Sabah Golf and Country Club roundabout, earlier this week.
He said a 728-metre section of Jalan Bundusan was found to be shrouded in darkness.
“Our technicians put 12 new bulbs in place and dealt with the cabling between five lights on Tuesday,” he said.
“A sky-master was deployed to assist in efforts to change those bulbs, which were blown, and tighten any loose connections to our poles.”
Meanwhile, City Hall has instructed the contractor, tasked with looking after the public lighting around Inanam and Likas, to make regular checks of the lights servicing the Seri Warisan Industrial area and Taman Likas Jaya.
A spokesman for the agency’s Engineering Department said technical faults were to blame for the breakdown of the lights on Lorong Industri Warisan 1 and Lorong Burung Kenari 5.
“Two checks were made of the first road over a span of 10 days,” he said.
“The miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) – in the control panel for the lights – were found to have tripped during the first inspection and, subsequently, reset.”
A MCB prevented electrical hazards by detecting and interrupting abnormal currents and short circuits, according to him.
“When the contractor’s technicians went back more than a week later, they were shocked to discover that the cable connected to several lights was missing.”
He suspected that the mischief-makers might have been targeting the metal in the overhead line.
“The thieves may have had ambitions of hawking the copper as used-metal. However, the cable which they stole has little resale-value as it is made of aluminium.”
He said a police report had been made about the theft. On top of the putting a new 40m overhead line in place, the spokesman said the contractor’s workers also repaired a faulty lantern in this part of Inanam.
“A LED [Light emitting diode] was found to have been damaged and replaced on the spot.”
He said the contractor conducted a day-time test to check if these amenities were coming on as they should.
“He, later, returned at night to gauge if Lorong Industri Warisan 1 was adequately illuminated.”
The individual monitored the “trouble spots” for several days afterwards, according to him. He said none of the lights broke down during either of these periods.
The spokesman said this was the second time this year that the cable for City Hall’s lights in the Seri Warisan area had been vandalised.
An overhead line, measuring some 300m in length, was stolen in April, according to him.
More than 10 lights have been set up along Lorong Industri Warisan 1 which covers a distance of about 255.25m, according to him.
“We have called on the individual to be more mindful of any funny business involving these amenities in future. Nevertheless, this may prove exceedingly difficult to do.
Given the extensiveness of our rating area, it would be impossible for him and his workers to be everywhere at once.”
To this end, he hoped the public would inform City Hall directly if they witnessed the streetlights being vandalised. He said this would allow the agency to deal with these problems accordingly.
Where Taman Likas Jaya was concerned, the spokesman said some of the components inside the control panel, for the lights along a 99m-span of on Lorong Burung Kenari 5, were found to have been damaged.
“The technicians set about changing the 60amp fuses which had burnt out,” he said.
