Call for City Hall to take on rubbish collection

Rubbish strewn all over Jalan Arafah in Segambut Industrial Park. Pic by Stephen Ng
Source: http://www.nst.com.my/streets/central/call-for-city-hall-to-take-on-rubbish-collection-1.339877#ixzz2cOw8cPpN (By STEPHEN NG | streets@nst.com.my, 18/8/2013)
LONG-STANDING ISSUE: The authority has been asked to step in to resolve the problem of illegal dumping in Jalan Arafah at the Segambut Industrial Park

Member of parliament of Segambut Lim Lip Eng wants a permanent solution for the illegal dumping in Jalan Arafah, Segambut Industrial Park. According to Lim, the issue has been around for more than a decade.

"Both City Hall and Alam Flora say that it is not their responsibility to clear the rubbish in an industrial area, unless the owners pay the contract fees," he said.

In other words, if the area has not been handed over to City Hall, it is still under the jurisdiction of the developer, and the collection of rubbish will not be carried out by the solid waste concessionaire, Alam Flora.

Lim, however, said he has been getting help from Alam Flora to collect the rubbish at the junction of Jalan Arafah, Segambut, from time to time. "Alam Flora has been kind enough to do it once in every few weeks," he said.

Lim urged City Hall and the developer to solve the issue once and for all.

"If the contract has to be awarded to Alam Flora, City Hall can then charge it to the developer," he said. "This would force the developer to immediately work out a handover plan which will eventually benefit the industrial lot owners and reduce illegal dumping activities in the area."

Alam Flora area service manager for Kuala Lumpur Nurulhuda Md Shariff said that he is aware of the problem.

"Although we are not directly responsible for the job, we try to do our best to help, but the moment we clean up the area, it starts all over again," he said. "There are, in fact, 250 active and repetitive illegal dumping sites on our schedule."

Nurulhuda said sometimes it is contributed by the illegal hawkers, renovation contractors and unlicensed rubbish collection contractors and pasar malam traders in the area who take advantage of the situation to dump their own rubbish, instead of putting them into bins that are allocated for them. "We will continue to do our part as this is our job," he said.