DBKK to ensure common areas are lit at night
Published on: Thursday, March 14, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
City Hall is determined to ensure alleys around the City, like this one, are properly illuminated after dark.
CITY HALL has stepped up efforts to keep the common areas around Kota Kinabalu properly illuminated at night, in light of the recent spate of snatch-thefts and acts of vandalism which have occurred in the State Capital over the past few weeks.
Two female employees were robbed and badly beaten, one with a wooden stick, in the worst instance of these thefts.
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The windows of some vehicles – as well as the glass wall for an automated teller machine (ATM) room – were also smashed in separate incidents around the same time.
Except for the damage to the ATM room, which belonged to a Kg Air bank, the attacks and vehicle break-ins took place in alleys and parking areas around the central business district of the City.
A technician checks the components inside the control panel for these lights in the Kg Air area.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said its technicians checked on the condition of the 676 streetlights in Kota Kinabalu, as well as the components inside the control panel for these amenities, following these goings-on.
They focused on five different sections of the City, according to him, namely Jalan Gaya and the shophouses in Segama, Sinsuran, Kg Air and Bandaran Berjaya.
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“They changed four 250watt lanterns, four 250watt ballasts and two analogue timers on Jalan Gaya,” he said.
“There are about 135 lights servicing this street.”
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He explained that a “ballast” regulated the electrical current to the lanterns and provided sufficient voltage to start the lanterns.
Of the 122 lights in the Segama area, the spokesman said, three 250watt lanterns and 250watt ballasts were replaced.
He said there were about 152 of these amenities in the Sinsuran area.
“Six 250watt lanterns, two 250watt ballasts and a 60amp contactor were changed here.
A “contactor” was a type of switch for repeatedly opening and closing an electric circuit, according to him.
In the case of Kg Air, he said, the agency’s technicians replaced three 250watt lanterns, three 250watt ballasts, a 60amp contactor and a 16 amp miniature circuit breaker (MCB).
“A MCB is a small trip switch operated by an overload and used to protect an electric circuit, especially a domestic circuit as an alternative to a fuse.
“There are about 126 lights in this part of the City.”
Another of the contractor’s staff verifying that the timer the lights in this part of Jalan Gaya was working as it should.
The spokesman said 141 of these amenities were checked in the Bandaran area.
“Our technicians changed three 250watt lanterns, three 250watt ballasts, an analogue timer and a 60amp contactor here.”
He said City Hall’s electrical contractor had been asked to increase the night-time surveillance of the State Capital to ensure that the public lighting didn’t breakdown.
“We also asked him to be more mindful about the brightness of the lights in the alleys as we want these public places to be adequately lit at night.”
Improvements to the public lighting were among the measures which Api-Api Assemblywoman Datuk Christina Liew suggested last month to make the City safer.
She also called for more police patrols and closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to be installed around Kota Kinabalu.
“I am absolutely appalled at the outrageous acts of the robbers in challenging the authorities outright… and targeting locals,” she said at the time.
She said “the horrifying nature” of the attacks was sure to have struck “fear in the hearts” of the public, including the numerous visitors to the State.
Liew, who is also Sabah’s Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, said the snatch-thefts and acts of vandalism would have undoubtedly tarnished the reputation of Jalan Gaya, which was known as a historic location
As such, she was keen to prevent Jalan Gaya from getting a “bad name” and “scaring off potential tourists”.
“It is vital [that the authorities] avert the insecure environment where KK residents, particularly the city-dwellers, live in fear.
“We cannot allow this dangerous situation to escalate into something beyond our control.”
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