Sacofa told again not to build telco towers close to houses

KUCHING: Sarawak’s telecommunication infrastructure company Sacofa Sdn Bhd (Sacofa) is again reminded to be more considerate when building new telecommunication towers in residential areas.

Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong said she had received many complaints of telco towers being built too close to houses, raising fear among residents over the effect from the transmitters.

The latest complaint received, she said, was over the sounds emitting from the telco tower at Taman Supreme.

“Please do not build near houses or in the middle of residential areas. We are not against the building of such telco towers but please do it right by finding the suitable location,” she told reporters at Taman Supreme here yesterday.

She explained that the residents had signed a petition in March last year to protest against the construction of the tower near their houses.

However, the construction of the telco tower went ahead and it was completed shortly after that.

“Now 20 months have passed, and the residents said there are noises emitting from the tower. They also said they smelt something as if there is burning there,” she said.

She hoped the authorities including the Sarawak Multimedia Authority ( SMA) would take this matter seriously, and consider moving this telco tower to another location.

“Please respect and hear the voices of the people. They felt it was unfair since the tower is less than 10 metres from their houses,” she added.