KOTA KINABALU: Residents of the Manikar buildings located at Jalan Padang here centre were issued with notices to appear in court over rubbish on the buildings’ concrete canopy as well as its deplorable unhygienic conditions.
Kota Kinabalu City Hall director-general, Joannes Solidau disclosed that 21 summonses were issued as residents were ordered to appear in court on October 21 this year, where it will be decided whether they are to pay a fine, serve jail sentence, or conduct community service.
“The fine amount could go up to RM10,000. But the court would normally decide on community service whereby the residents are required to clean up the area,” said Joannes.
He said that the aggressive approach was taken following various efforts to maintain the cleanliness of the area, including issuing compounds.
“City Hall has been conducting regular clean-up at the area since years ago, and it is not an easy task.
“We have pleaded with them, we’ve asked them not to litter, and we’ve issued compounds, but the habit (of littering) continues. Maybe they feel that City Hall will always come around to clean up their mess.
“So this time, we get the court to serve them notices and they have to comply or risk jail,” Joannes said.
He added that the aggressive and immediate action, following a complaint by environmentalist Dr CY Vun on Monday, was also due to the rising concern over Zika virus and dengue.
“The unhygienic condition of the rubbish serves as a potential breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes. This is also one of our main concerns,” he said.
Vun had on Monday brought up the issue and suggested that strict action be taken against occupants of the rented units at the buildings for their persistent littering habit.
It was reported that occupants of the six-storey buildings would dump rubbish simply by throwing them from the top floors instead of bringing them down and dispose into the rubbish bin provided.
Joannes said that although the buildings’ cleanliness is the responsibility of the owners, the authority targets the occupants and residents as it is difficult to track down the building owners.
On a related note, City Hall will also be taking the necessary action againts tenants who put up partitions to divide the rooms on the buildings,
“The number of rooms are actually not that many. But due to illegal partitions, the number of rooms in this area doubled.
“There are five blocks of six-storey buildings altogether and there are two units on each floor, all of which – except for the ground floor units – are rented out to these residents.”
However, owners put up partitions illegally and rent out the much smaller rooms at RM300 to RM500 each to gain more profit.
“The culprits are the owners, whose sole purpose is to gain profit but are irresponsible. At the very least, they should provide a more liveable condition, maintenance and control the number of occupants,” said Joannes.
He said that despite City Hall’s efforts to tear down the partitions, tenants came up with other ways to divide the rooms, such as by putting up curtains instead.
He also disclosed that most of the residents at the buildings are locals, although there are a few of those who are IMM13 document holders.