DAP man wants MPKS to compensate resident who spent RM16k to resurface road

The resurfaced road at Jalan Stakan after the completion of maintenance work. Photo credit: Michael Kong

KUCHING, Feb 7: A Democratic Action Party (DAP) member has called on Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS) to compensate a resident who had spent his own money to conduct road resurfacing work in front of his home in Lorong 5 of Jalan Stakan.

Michael Kong Feng Nian, a special assistant to Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, said the resident known as ‘Mr Soon’ had complained to MPKS about the poor road condition many months ago.

“Tasks such as this resurfacing of road should be taken up by the relevant authorities without any delay as any inordinate delay will cause much hardship and inconvenience to the public.

“However, this was not the case here and after many months of inaction, Mr Soon had no choice but to take matters into his own hands and resurface the road using his own hard-earned money. This job had set him back a total of RM16,000,” Kong said in a statement today.

Kong claimed that it was totally unjust that Soon has to pay for the road works when it is MPKS’ duty to maintain the roads.

“As such, I will be assisting him to forward the invoices for the work done to MPKS and ask that MPKS reimburse him accordingly. It is only fair that MPKS be asked to reimburse so that not only the local councils are held accountable but also to encourage public participation towards this public administration.

“If the MPKS chairman or any local council is not up to the task and cannot deliver on performance, then someone with better credentials and who can perform should be appointed to take helm. We are only seven years away from 2030 to achieve the developed state status and cannot allow such dead-weights to hinder our progress,” he added. — DayakDaily