Sandakan people’s housing turning into ‘concrete slum’ – MP
SANDAKAN: Member of Parliament for Sandakan, Vivian Wong, said that the state government ‘s failure to appoint a management company to undertake the daily maintenance at Taman Harmoni is turning the people’s housing into a “concrete slum” with deplorable living environment.
Vivian made the statement following her recent site inspection with Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong to Taman Harmoni after her office had received numerous complaints about basic maintenance issues at the housing areas for the past few months.
She said the overall living environment here was simply unacceptable.
“We have received so many complaints from the residents here, from burst water pipes, piles of rubbish uncollected for days, stray dogs roaming everywhere, collapsed seawall to broken streetlights, and the list goes on.
“There is no management company appointed to manage and maintain Taman Harmoni for over a year now, how long more does the Ministry of Local Government and Housing want to delay the appointment of the management?” asked Vivian.
According to Vivian, last year, Pusat Khidmat Rakyat P186 Sandakan had to engage an external contractor on their own to address the severe blockage of sewerage pipes and manholes in nearly all the blocks in Taman Harmoni.
The situation was so terrible, she said, with sewer overflowing in so many places that they just could not ask the residents to wait for action from the authority.
She said all residents here are ratepayers, yet they are not getting the minimum standard of service for their housing estate from our local government.
“In the current Covid-19 pandemic, public health is so important to our residents and the state government has clearly failed the residents of Taman Harmoni.
“Further, without any security now coupled with broken streetlights, residents here are fearing for their personal safety and properties, said Vivian.
In her statement, Vivian said as the minister in charge for this matter, Datuk Masidi Manjun must address this issue immediate without delay to prevent Taman Harmoni from deteriorating into a modern concrete slum.