Residents against construction of telco tower in housing area

KUCHI NG: Ninety- ei g ht residents at Taman Supreme, Jalan Nyatoh here are strongly against the construction of a telecommunications tower in their vicinity.

Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen is urging telecommunications infrastructure and services company Sacofa Sdn Bhd to heed their objections.

According to Chong, the project started without notifying or consulting the residents who only found out that a telecommunications tower was being built when workers started to dig up the site on Feb 10.

“This neighbourhood is an old one, have been here for decades. The residents have the right to maintain their neighbourhood as it is, so they objected to the construction.

“At first they went to SUPP Pending branch office nearby to seek help but SUPP rejected them saying the project is already on going and that there is nothing they can do about it.

“So they came to us. Pending assemblywoman Violet ( Yong) helped them prepare a petition letter which was signed by 98 residents, and forwarded to Sacofa,” he told a press conference at the site yesterday.

Chong further explained that initially Sacofa agreed to look for an alternative site, so everybody was happy with the outcome. However, soon after, the project recommenced.

“Upon further inquiry, we were told that the tower is to serve the nearby Vivacity. That means the tower is serving a new development project.

“Let it be known so that prospective buyers know and they have the choice whether to buy a house in the area or not. You don’t go to an existing neighbourhood and start building a telco tower, even against the wishes of the residents.

“In a truly civilised society, if the government wants to build anything in a neighbourhood, the residents have a say. This is civil rights, and here it’s been trampled on and neglected by authorities,” he lamented.

Chong added that there have been previous successful cases of residents overturning decisions to build telecommunications towers near them because their views were respected by the authorities, citing examples of Kenyalang Park Commercial Centre and Green Road area, but stressed that there have not been anymore such cases in recent years.

Yong voiced her disappointment at how Sacofa has been handling the matter, which she saw as a flipflop decision.

“First the project started in a secret manner without any prior notification. When the residents found out about it, of course they are not happy. They signed the petition letter, which was delivered to Sacofa, Land and Survey Department, Multimedia and Communications Commission of Malaysia (MCMC) and even the Chief Minister’s Office.

“People are concerned about their health, knowing the serious effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation in the long run.

“When we met up with the ( Corporate Af fairs) manager Mohamad Sait on Feb 13, he told us that they will look for an alternative site, so naturally we were delighted.

“But on Feb 24, residents called up to inform that there are workers on site again. When I told Mohamad about it over Whatsapp, he said the contractor was pulling out their machinery and doing tidying up work before moving out. However, he later said they have decided to proceed with the Taman Supreme structure,” she said.

Yong believed that Sacofa should respect the strong objections of the residents instead of making a fool of them.

“They should hold a proper dialogue to engage with the residents. They can still scrap the project if they care.

“Instead they are making fools of us and the residents. This should not be the way a responsible corporate company handles matters,” she said.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Mohamad Sait said Sacofa had decided to proceed with the project.

“Study has been conducted and we decided to proceed because the site passed and complied with all requirements and conditions set by the State Planning Authority (SPA).

“We need to provide the services, and it will not only benefit Taman Supreme area but cover the community within a radius of one to two kilometres.

“On whether to remove or dismantle the construction because there are objections, it is not within my authority. It is the decision of the management,” he said.