DAP fires salvo over clogged drains

2009/11/21

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) was taken to task for not addressing the state's problematic drainage system. The matter was raised by DAP action team chief Tham Weng Fatt, who is no stranger to being vocal about the council's shortcomings.

Tham urged the council's enforcement unit to wake up and look into drainage woes that had not been attended to for more than a year.

"Until today, the MPPP is giving me the same reply, that it does not have enough workers to clear rubbish from the drains," he said after taking pressmen to view clogged drains at Lebuh Melayu yesterday.

Tham said the council should not keep blaming residents for throwing rubbish into the drains but simply do its part to clear them.

"I checked on the condition of drains around the city centre after receiving numerous complaints. I found almost all were clogged."

He said the whole problem was made worse by an antiquated drainage system and the fact that garbage traps were not cleared daily.

He said MPPP workers also shared the blame for sweeping garbage and leaves into drains.

He proposed that enforcement officers be stationed in any area on a daily or weekly basis to monitor the situation and take immediate action against residents who dump rubbish indiscriminately.

He said Lebuh Melayu, Lebuh Carnarvon, Jalan C.Y. Choy, Jalan Transfer and Lebuh Chulia had the most serious drainage problems.