PUT OFF: Kepong folk stop going to Taman Metropolitan lake garden because of unbearable stench
KUALA LUMPUR: PARK goers who visit the Taman Metropolitan lake garden in Kepong have only one thing to say: It stinks! They complain that over the past five years, the stench has become so unbearable that many visitors refuse to return.
William Wong, 60, said many of his Tai Chi members who exercised there dropped out because of the stench emitting from the lake.
He said on some days, when it is really bad, some park goers can also be seen covering their noses with scarves or spare T-shirts.
"The odour is worse than rotten eggs and smells like chemical," said the Rela officer.
However, Wong still frequents the park as the facility is the nearest to his home in Kepong Indah.
Driven away by the stench, Kepong Baru resident Lee Fook Sang rarely heads for the park anymore.
He said he likes the park as it is large and beautiful but over the past few years the stench has marred the image of the park as a recreational area.
"I now frequent the park in Manjalara near my home. At least I can eat my breakfast after exercising there," he quipped.
The 53-year-old also made the switch as he noted a number of snatch thefts in broad daylight at the park.
A Streets check yesterday found the lake covered with a layer of algae.
There were also liquor bottles and the some street lights minus their metal coverings and poles dumped at the shallower part of the lake.
Kepong Community Centre head Yee Poh Ping said heavy rain the previous night had dispersed the algae and stench.
"However, over the past two weeks, my office was flooded with complaints about the stench. It was a dry spell then," he said, adding that untreated water flowed from three inlets into the lake.
It comes from the drains of Kepong Indah, PPR Intan Baiduri and the Intan Baiduri Kepong housing estate.
Yee also said residents reported weekly burning of rubbish at the edge of the lake by contractors tasked with gathering the rubbish.
City Hall landscape and recreation department director Mustapha Mohd Nor assured Yee that he would act on the open burning of rubbish immediately and visit the lake after the Hari Raya break.
Yee urged the director to install more street lights to brighten up the place.
On the access route to the park, Yee said City Hall had agreed to build a car park and an alternative access road from Taman Perusahaan Kepong to the park.
"City Hall will be drawing up the plans and inviting the tender for the project soon.
"There will be a fence and I also expect benches to be placed here as there are no benches now," he said, adding that City Hall has placed big rocks all over the current dirt road trail from Taman Perusahaan Kepong.
This is to prevent contractors from dumping garbage at the vacant land surrounding the access route.
The issue of the access route was raised recently as Kepong folk who wanted to use the park had to get to the park from MRR2 near Selayang.
Visitors have to take a detour of between 10km and 13km to get to the park which, ironically, is in their neighbourhood.
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