Putatan treated as dumping ground – council
KOTA KINABALU: Putatan has been treated as a dumping ground by irresponsible parties from outside the district, according to a spokesman for the district council enforcement division.
He said the local authority would find a daily increase in rubbish even though collection was done every day.
He said observation had revealed that rubbish was being dumped in Putatan from other districts.
“Some of rubbish in Putatan area actually comes from outside. Not from Putatan,” he said.
“Sometimes they would use a lorry to dump rubbish from other districts in Putatan because the journey to Kayu Madang landfill is too far, so they would just dump it in Putatan,” he added.
He maintained that rubbish collection was done around 2pm every day.
Recently, Parti Warisan Sabah criticized the local authority over unsatisfactory cleanliness level in Putatan and a picture of unsightly rubbish at Putra II was published as an example.
The party’s treasurer general cum Warisan Putatan chief coordinator, Terrence Siambun, pointed out the Wira Warisan from Putatan and Penampang were shocked to see heaps of rubbish all over the district.
He claimed that information given by the locals had revealed an irregular rubbish collection time and caused pile-ups.
However, a representative from the district council enforcement division confirmed that the picture had been taken prior to the rubbish collection hour.
“Rubbish in general is definitely collected daily while solid wastes such as remnants of cement, bricks and wood will be collected once a week,” he explained.
Meanwhile, District Officer Ag Abd Ghani Pg Yusoff affirmed the local authority was doing its best when dealing with rubbish in Putatan.
“There is no place in the world where there are no rubbish issues. As long as there are human, there will be rubbish,” he said.
“The district council is doing what we can, not all things can be solved perfectly,” added the District Officer while lamenting over the absence of pictures showing the district council’s efforts in collecting rubbish.