‘Act on overgrown greenery’ call
Published on: Tuesday, January 23, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
(Left) A sky- lift was deployed to facilitate efforts to prune this tree in Taman Milek and (right) the tree had weighed down some TM wires along the road to the Sozian cemetery.
TELEKOM Malaysia (TM) Bhd staff have been asked to be more proactive when it comes to dealing with any overgrown greenery near its poles around Penampang to minimise the likelihood of these installations, as well as the cables supported by them, from being damaged by any falling trees or branches.
City Hall personnel, on the other hand, will try to exercise similar diligence when it comes to pruning the trees along housing roads in a Luyang neighbourhood.
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A tree in Kg Kibabaig toppled onto some TM lines earlier this month, with the low-hanging wires making it difficult for drivers to access the Sozian cemetery in the village.
Another tree in Taman Milek Phase 1 made some of those living in the residential area uneasy especially during a storm or when there was a strong wind blowing.
They had noticed that the tree on Lorong Gunung Ledang tossed about vigorously and feared the potential property damage they could incur if the upper branches were to break off and fall onto their houses or vehicles below
They also bemoaned the nuisance created by the dried leaves which littered their compounds and clogged the roadside drain.
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The Penampang driver and Luyang rate-payer – who spoke out about these problems – provided Hotline with the pertinent details, including the location of the respective trees. This information was forwarded to TM and City Hall.
A spokesman for the former said its personnel confirmed that the company’s lines were being loaded down by the fallen tree, when they went to the village on Thursday.
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“Thankfully, the cables had not been severed in two under the weight, otherwise our subscribers here would have surely had their TM services disrupted,” he said.
“The relevant section was informed about these findings.”
He said a second team returned to Kg Kibabaig on Sunday with the necessary equipment to remove the tree and prune the others in the vicinity.
“Our technicians later adjusted the wires, and poles supporting them, back to their original position.”
TM was informed about the problem involving these installations in the second week of January.
When asked why it took close to a fortnight for the firm to act, the spokesman said this work could not be carried out any earlier as other more pressing matters had cropped up.
“We were caught up responding to a spate of cable theft which has been occurring at various locations around the district.
“Our staff would replace the stolen cable at one place only to find, by the next day, that another section had gone missing somewhere else.”
He said it was an uphill task dealing with this pilferage.
The spokesman said there was no fixed maintenance schedule for its installations in the district.
“Our assets, including the poles and overhead lines, are attended to as and when it becomes necessary to do so.
“To this end, we hope our subscribers will inform us directly of any irregularities involving these fixtures, so that action can be taken to deal with them as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, City Hall’s Tree Pruning Unit has trimmed the canopy of a tree growing on a section of the verge on Lorong Gunung Ledang.
A spokesman for the agency’s Landscaping Department said seven of the Unit’s personnel conducted a “topping” exercise recently, following a preliminary inspection carried out shortly after it became aware of the overgrown tree
“Our sky-lift with an articulated arm was deployed to facilitate this effort,” he said.
“One of our staff went up with a chainsaw in the machine which can reach an elevation of about 12 meters.”
Due to the height of the tree and presence of overhead lines, which had encroached into the path of the branches, it took two days for the Landscaping workers to complete the job, according to him.
The spokesman said this was the second time over the past four months that the agency had attended to the tree.
“A check of our records show that the Unit previously pruned the branches on October 20.”
The TM spokesman said none of its telecommunication wires were within proximity of the tree.
A Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd spokesman, meanwhile, confirmed that some of the branches had entered the air space around the company’s “Ariel Bundle Cables”.
“The cables are relatively safe as they are insulated,” he said.
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