BUKIT MERTAJAM, Oct 2 – A slow five-minute walk for about 300m along Jalan Alma Jaya, Bukit Mertajam, is being greeted with a pile of garbage and flies on the roadside. The dumping site has all sorts of garbage, including construction wastes, plastic, Styrofoam and full of flies, mosquitoes and insects.
Taman Sejahtera Residents Representative Committee chairman Lim Teong Khim, who highlighted this, urged the state authorities concerned to buck up and clean up the unhygienic mess. He said the state authorities are health hazards to residents, and are not in line with the health department’s warning of sicknesses such as dengue fever, zika etc.
He told this to reporters in the press conference here today. Lim hoped the state government’s “Green Penang” slogan would not remain a lip service. Although the problem only affects a small housing estate which is not a tourist attraction, the local authorities concerned still have the responsibility to take care of the cleanliness and hygiene of the surrounding environment to be consistent with the slogan of “Green Penang”.
Lim also singled out the poor management of basic infrastructures and amenities carried out by the local authorities in this area. He said some road sign boards are left unattended, filled with weeds, and littering everywhere. He said there is a lack of garbage disposal bins. The also added that their local city councillors have not been doing their duties properly to resolve the problems. He urges the local city councillors should see to it that the housing estate is clean and hygienic.
