7.5 tonnes of garbage collected from Kota Kinabalu’s waters in a week

 

Kota Kinabalu City Hall said the trash found in the waters was believed to have been due to a change in wind direction in March. (KKCH pic)

KOTA KINABALU: About 7.5 tonnes of garbage was collected from the waters around Kota Kinabalu last week, following concerns of critical sea, river and beach pollution.

Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) said in a statement that the bulk of the garbage was collected from the Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal jetty area and Pasar Besar Kota Kinabalu.

It said the trash found in the waters was believed to have been due to a change in wind direction in March.

DBKK, which carried out its clean-up work using boats and waste collection vessels, said most of the garbage originated from villages and water villages, as well as nearby islands.

“As a short-term measure, DBKK will install rubbish traps in critical water village areas such as Kampung Numbak and the Jalan Saga slums.

“Monitoring and clean-up work will be continued in the rivers and coastal areas in Kota Kinabalu by DBKK’s sea and river cleaning unit, which is under the solid waste management department,” read the statement.

Several concessionaires have been appointed to target areas such as the Sungai Sembulan estuary, Anjung Senja coastline, the rubbish trap in front of the Imago shopping centre, the Sabah Parks jetty, and Likas Bay. - FMT