By Ling Hui
KUCHING, Sept 3: The Kuching South City Council (MBKS) will no longer interfere with the installation of plastic bollards at the traffic lights at the intersection of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Dato Bandar.
MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng said the road is under the jurisdiction of the Public Works Department (JKR) and not MBKS.
He explained that MBKS had previously spent up to RM2,000 and deployed their own officers to install bollards along the said road.
The posts that were meant to avoid traffic congestion or accidents, however, were found to be either destroyed or removed the following day.
“So, I guess, in the long run, we will let JKR handle it. Basically, JKR has agreed to take the necessary actions, to reinstall the barriers.
“The responsibility is now back to JKR because the road has always been under their jurisdiction.
“And I’m sure citizens would not want MBKS to make use of the taxes they pay and spend them on things that the council is not supposed to spend on,” said Wee during his ShallWeeTalk Facebook live session today.
He was responding to some crude comments on social media that chided him for not replacing the plastic bollards at the traffic light despite many complaints from the ground.
For the record, motorists would usually cut across lanes along Jalan Tun Razak from Jalan Chawan into the traffic light to reach SK Kenyalang or the nearby residential area.
This would often cause traffic congestion and sometimes accidents due to collisions between vehicles cutting lanes and the oncoming vehicles along Jalan Tun Razak.
Meanwhile, Wee said MBKS is following up with JKR daily to re-install the bollards.
“As a local council, we cannot interfere with any departments. All we can do is apply pressure, but we cannot force them to do their job,” he added. — DayakDaily
