Mayor urges Miri folk to be patient, says sewerage project good for city

Adam Yii

MIRI, March 21: Miri mayor Adam Yii has appealed to the people here to be patient and to put up with the inconveniences caused by the ongoing sewerage project for a while longer.

He highlighted that the project would enable the city to better manage its sewerage and wastewater.

Yii, in a press statement, said he was aware of the concerns and public disquiet over safety, environment, traffic congestion and health hazard issues arising from the sewerage project and had done something about it.

He revealed that on March 7, Miri City Council (MCC) sat down with Sarawak Sewerage Services Department and the project’s main contractor, Hock Seng Lee Berhad, to discuss issues affecting the public.

The project started on March 30, 2017, and is now 48 per cent complete. Work is expected to wrap up by June 3, 2021.

Open trenching works within the town centre, especially along the main line at Jalan Slyvia, Jalan Kipas, Jalan Merpati, Jalan Sukan, Jalan Bulan Sabit and Jalan Sehati are expected to be completed by December this year.

Measures being taken by the contractor to overcome safety, traffic congestion and health hazard issues on the site include submitting traffic management plans to MCC before starting work at the site, continuous monitoring of traffic arrangements (signages, blinkers, barriers, diversions), continue monitoring any blind spot created by the construction work (hoarding erection), displaying project information on the hoarding and continuous monitoring of the public drainage that are affected by construction work.

For open cutting or trenching works on site, the following measures have been taken as follows: reinstatement work within three to seven days after completion of construction work, minimising stockpile at site to prevent public complaints due to unsafe condition or dusty environment, minimising road damage by excavator, providing water spray to minimise dust during road cutting work before excavation, and providing more flagmen on the site for traffic diversion.

In addition, MCC has also reminded the contractor to always abide by local laws and regulations in order to ease the public’s concerns. — DayakDaily