Dr Ting’s statement on desludging services not true — Miri mayor

MIRI: Miri City Council ( MCC) has refuted the claim by DAP Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon that the council had overspent on desludging services.

Dr Ting had at a press conference on Nov 22 which was published on Nov 23 questioned MCC on the desludging services in Miri, said the money used could have been spent on other areas.

During MCC’s full council meeting yesterday, mayor Adam Yii said the claim and the information given by Dr Ting was incorrect.

“The desludging service is a compulsory service under the Local Authority ( Compulsory Desludging of Septic Tanks) ByLaws 1998.

“In actual fact, the targeted volume in 2016 is 25,000m³ and in 2017, the targeted volume is 30,000m³ and not 25,000m³ as claimed. Do note that the increment is in view of the total properties in Miri in year 2016 which is about 64,300 properties,” Yii clarified.

He added that apart from the scheduled desludging as stated in the By-Laws, the city council also needed to entertain ad-hoc desludging requests by the public due to overflow of their septic tank.

“This is also in line with Clause 11.5 of the Concession Agreement which states that the minimum volume for the fourth year onwards is 25,000 m³.”

The clause also stated that since 2013, the desludging service for one- off collection is free while for subsequent service which is under Schedule A (1) ( Clause 6.1) of the Concession Agreement, the fee is RM177 per m³ of which RM72 is for the collection and transportation of sludge and RM105 is for the treatment and disposal of sludge.

“The council would like to also clarify that the volume of sludge varies depending on the types of properties – residential houses, schools, hospital, religious centres, commercial shop houses, government buildings, industrial buildings, shopping complexes, hotels etc.”

Yii added that the council was monitoring the desludging activities closely per standard operating procedures ( SOP) and that the premises owner is responsible to ensure that the septic tank is in a good condition and accessible for desludging.

“The owner is not supposed to drain out or channel scheduled waste such as used oil and grease into the septic tank because this will cause blockage in the sewer lines.

“It is particularly important because sludge treatment is unable to accept or treat these oil and grease because the treatment undergoes a biological process and any excessive amounts of oil and grease will be harmful to the bacteria, and disrupt the entire process,” said Yii during the monthly full council meeting yesterday.

Yii called on members of the public to refer to the city council’s Public Cleansing and Maintenance Section at 085442 411 or 085- 434704 for more clarification on the matter.