PUTATAN'S CHANGING LANDSCAPE

By : FIZAH YUSOF

DEPUTY Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin wants Putatan District to be the cleanest place in Sabah. He made that known at the launching of the Putatan District Anti-Litter Campaign near the tamu ground in Putatan yesterday. The Anti-Litter Campaign stresses good hygiene and a litter-free environment.

"Putatan is only a 10 minutes drive to the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. The district is the first place tourists see and what they see may form an impression of the whole state. If the district is dirty, people will think the whole of Sabah is dirty," he said.

Yahya who is also the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry said the district has to improve its cleanliness standard, as it is also a gateway for visitors from Brunei and Sarawak who come to Kota Kinabalu.

He said every one should be responsible and work together to find solution to address the litter problems in Putatan.

"There is no point for us to argue with the district council on the waste issue. We only know how to complain but what we really should do is to play our part to ensure that our home, village and district arefree of litter," he said.

Yahya also urged shop owners to ensure the area outside their shops are kept clean all the time. He proposed that businesses in the district adopt the 'no plastic' concept.

Putatan District Officer Awang Abdul Ghani Pg Yusoff disclosed that in the past three months the Putatan District Council has compounded some 400 people for littering. The 'litterbugs' were fined between RM50 and RM500 per person for the offence.

"Everyday, we collect between 35 tonnes to 40 tonnes of wastes. This is a huge amount,” he said.

Abdul Ghani said the Putatan District itself has grown and its population is also increasing.

"There are now more than 80,000 people residing in over 50 housing areas and 22 villages including many government offices and business premises," he said.

He said a challenge that the district council faces is from the huge volume of wastes from people who live outside the Putatan rating area but use the council's garbage disposal facility.

"The district is also short of machinery and manpower. We only have seven waste trucks right now and a total of 56 workers handling the waste collection,” he said.

He said he did not say all this as excuses for the poor cleanliness in Putatan. The district council is carrying out various anti-litter programmes and have installed three billboards promoting anti-littering.

"We have also provided 20 large waste bins in the hope that people will not throw rubbish indiscriminately. We have also introduced the ‘Tagal’ system in our management of the Petagas River to help increase the fish species and also to raise awareness of river cleanliness. We try hard to stop people residing along the river bank from dumping waste into the river,” he said. (Insight Sabah)