Penampang District Council, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd trying to resolve faulty meters, fallen streetlights
Published on: Friday, June 07, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
A City Hall technician attends to one of the inactive streetlights on Jalan Kolam (pic left) and check was made of the mechanisms inside the control panel for the lights on the divider near the BSA Futsal junction in Kolombong.
THE Penampang District Council is trying to resolve the irregularities involving the electricity meters and fallen streetlights which have separately contributed to the lack of illumination around Country Heights Plaza, as well as the main road between the Lintasjaya Uptownship commercial centre and RTM headquarters in Kepayan.
Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) also plans to repair nine inoperative lights in Kg Tobobon, Manggatal, and Jalan Kionsom Lama, in Inanam.
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City Hall, on the other hand, is keeping an eye on the condition of these amenities along Jalan Kolam and the Kolombong-Lintas Ring Road.
Both agencies and the company were responding to feedback from several Hotline callers about the safety hazards posed by the failure of the public lighting in these different areas.
One of the seven lights in the Kg Tobobon area which were out of order is seen above.
A Council spokesman said the lights on the cantilevers around the shophouses at the Plaza were put up and electrified by the developer.
“However, when the company handed over responsibility for these amenities to the Council, it failed to have ownership of the electricity meters transferred to us,” he said.
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“The meters are still in the developer’s name. Owing to this, we have been unable to settle the power bills for the lights.”
He said SESB staff had subsequently removed the fuses from these devices.
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The spokesman said the Council’s administration had since been in touch with the company about the outstanding issues involving the meters.
“The necessary documents relating to the transfer have been prepared.
“We are waiting for the developer’s staff to collect these items and bring them over to SESB so that the transfer can be completed.”
He said the Council would keep tabs on the progress of this matter for the benefits of the many commercial rate-payers who operated businesses at the Plaza.
Where the public lighting on Jalan Lintas was concerned, the spokesman said the actions of an irresponsible motorist had caused the public lighting in this part of Kepayan to fail.
“The driver ran into three of our lights, causing them to topple over,” he said.
He said the damage had an unfortunate impact on the system servicing the rest of the lights on a 716 metre span of the road between the Lintas Uptownship and RTM.
The spokesman said the agency had lodged a police report about the damaged amenities.
“Our efforts to try and identify the culprit have so far proven unsuccessful.
“The Police had no prior knowledge of what happened, up until we brought it to their attention.
“We suspect that whoever rammed into the lights did not make an insurance claim for the damage to his/ her vehicle.”
This section of Jalan Kionsom Lama was found to be in complete darkness when the SESB team inspected the area.
The spokesman said the agency was in the midst of calling for a quotation to replace the affected amenities.
SESB, on the other hand, is arranging to restore seven lights in Kg Tobobon and two others along Jalan Kionsom later this month, according to its repair schedule.
A spokesman for the firm said two separate inspections were made of these areas last month, after the management was contacted by the media.
“The affected lights were found to have either worn down from years of use or sustained some sort of damage,” he said.
Meanwhile, technical faults were to blame for the breakdown of the lights between the main road between the Metrotown commercial centre and Borneo Sports Arena Futsal courts, in Kolombong.
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said its electrical contractor found a faulty 60amp “contactor” and some blown fuses inside the control panel servicing the lights on the divider in the middle of the Kolombong-Lintas Ring Road.
“A ‘contactor’ is a type of switch for repeatedly opening and closing an electric circuit,” he explained.
In the case of the section of Jalan Kolam between the junctions leading to the High Court building and Wisma HCS in Luyang, he said, “a trip” rendered the lights inoperative.
Repairs were made to those components which were damaged as a result of the power surge, according to him.
“The affected section of the road is well lit at the moment but we are working together with SESB to ensure that the public lighting remains stable,” he said.
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