KUCHING, Oct 2: A total overhaul is urgently needed in the management of Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) in order to provide quality services to the residents of the fast growing industrial town, says Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
He also wants BDA’s general manager to be replaced so that the agency could cope with the fast pace of development taking place in Bintulu.
“It should not need to be said that the BDA is responsible for conducting a rigorous and detailed investigation before any project is allowed to proceed. BDA has an important mandate to cooperate and coordinate with the contractor to minimise the project’s impact on the people.
In a statement today, Tiong claimed BDA had been underperforming and had poor efficiency and working attitude.
The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president opined BDA staff needed to take proactive steps to carry out their duties instead of being passive participants to mishaps and substandard industry practices.
“It is a long list of local problems unresolved and unsupervised. Landscaping, road works, development projects, contractor supervision, all of these seem to have ground to a halt.
“Well-run agencies that truly serve the people to solve their hardships will not wait passively for incidents to occur and then take remedial actions to investigate and resolve them. They should take on a preventive mindset from the beginning before any problems arise. Full and proper studies must be done before projects are carried out. Because BDA refuses to carry out strict checks and supervision, problems will happen again and again,” he emphasised.
Citing a current case, Tiong pointed out that certain residential areas were facing flash floods from torrential rain over the past few days due to the poor drainage system near the Boulevard Bintulu mall.
“It is massively clogged, causing much disruption and trouble for the local residents. Once we inspected the drain, it became painfully obvious why the blockage has happened during the downpours: construction waste, building materials, and garbage are all left to accumulate in the drain.
“What is the BDA doing about this? Not only are they responsible to make sure this mishap is addressed immediately, their management must be held accountable for allowing this burden on the people to occur in the first place.”
Tiong also pointed out that letting the drainage getting blocked was inexcusable in today’s modern world and was completely avoidable.
He alleged that BDA personnel were also unreachable whenever the public lodged their complaints.
“In the past, the BDA had taken prompt action but it is getting worse now with more people expressing their dissatisfaction with the government due to BDA’s underperformance.
“The people should not have to pay for BDA’s failures to carry out its duties. Its most urgent task now is to clean up the mess caused by the drain blockage.
“Coordinate with the developers for a win-win solution that brings the least trouble to the people,” urged Tiong. — DayakDaily
