Melaka to take stern action against Covid-19 SOP violators

MELAKA: The Melaka Historical City Council (MBMB) will not hesitate to take stern action, including issuing a closure notice against business premises in areas under its jurisdiction if they are found to have violated the standard operating procedures (SOP) to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Melaka city mayor Datuk Zainal Abu said MBMB would conduct regular monitoring especially in public areas such as markets and eateries.

“We are serious in ensuring compliance of the SOP among the public and MBMB also takes on the role of frontliners to assist the Health Ministry and the Royal Malaysia Police in enforcing the SOP to ensure that the Covid-19 transmission chain can be broken.

“Although the government has suggested that the people exercise self-control, it has been taken lightly by some quarters based on the number of people arrested for flouting the SOP,” he told reporters.

He said this after observing the Pump Operation Monitoring System (SPOP) Advanced installation site at Bunga Raya Pantai here today.

Meanwhile, Zainal said MBMB would expand the installation of SPOP Advanced to four other flood-prone areas involving an allocation of about RM200,000.

He said the areas were Sungai Udang, Kampung Morten, the Tan Kim Seng Bridge and Pengkalan Rama adding that the installation works were expected to take two years to complete.

According to him, the warning system which had been used since 2017 at Bunga Raya Pantai and As Syakirun flood control pumping stations in Pulau Melaka could detect increase in river water levels, pump damage, power outages and conduct air quality monitoring using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

“This system will convey relevant information through telephone calls as well as short message service and MBMB technical personnel will be given an early warning to help them identify the cause and prevent floods.

“MBMB technicians or contractors can also conduct monitoring through webmonitoring which will help them solve any issues quickly compared to previous methods where they need to go to the flood control pumping stations to identify the cause of floods,” he said.