Govt helps Sandakan building owners clear wild plants
SANDAKAN: The Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) will give free maintenance service to building owners to help them get rid of wild plants growing on the walls and ledges of their buildings here.
Assistant Local Government and Housing Minister George Hiew Vun Zin said the government is providing free maintenance service for building owners to clear out wild plants that grow on the walls and ledges of buildings in town to ensure the safety and beauty of the town.
He said the previous government had offered the same service, but the owners were charged a certain amount of fee. “We are now helping the rakyat for free. “We do not want wild plants, like trees, to grow on the walls of these buildings. As these trees grow bigger, it becomes more dangerous to the locals as we fear Aedes mosquito may start breeding,” he told reporters when inspecting the clearing of wild trees on the wall of Block 21 in the town centre here, yesterday.
Hiew said this is only the first step by SMC. The same clearing process will be conducted in Bandar Ramai-Ramai, Bandar Nam Tung, Bandar Leila at Mile 4 and other locations that have the same problem.
He commended the initiative taken by SMC president Datuk Peter Hii Chang Lik to beautify Sandakan while at the same time eliminating the risk of dengue fever outbreak.
Hii said that the effort was made to ensure that buildings in Sandakan are free from wild plants growing on the walls.
“We want to see buildings in Sandakan to be clean, and we want to eliminate the factors that are a risk to the safety of the locals (dengue fever). SMC had to use a sky-lift owned by a private company for this cleaning process. I thank the owner of the sky-lift, Chua Hee Ming, for assisting SMC by allowing us to use his sky-lift for this cleaning purpose.” he said.
He also asked the locals to give their cooperation to SMC to keep the town clean.