WHY DBKK LIGHTS OFF?

STOLEN.... Edward and Robert inspecting the lamp pole with the electrical components stolen.

THE PUBLIC complained to the Sabah DAP Inanam office that the street lights along the short cut road linking the Tuaran By-Pass to the Kingfisher Park along the JKR sewerage oxidation ponds in Inanam are totally out of function for a long time. The short cut road is used by many cars day and night to get away from the severe traffic jam on the main Kinfisher Park Bridge connecting to Yayasan Sabah.

The complaints were forwarded to DBKK by the DAP, and it is later found out that the street lights failed because of metal thieves had stolen all the electrical components in the lamp poles along with the connecting cables and wires. There are some thirty lamp poles here and every one faced the same situation.

Edward Ewol Mujie, the Sabah DAP Vice chairman said this type of stealing is really bad and these could cause the accidents to happen especially in dark night here along the oxidation ponds. The metal and cables actually do not worth a lot of money, but the trouble it caused can be high.

The metal thieves can steal easily from the lamp pole is because these lamp poles are not having proper lockable covers to protect its electrical components. On contacting DBKK, they said they will reinstate and repair all the lights here to allow the place having enough light at night. The cover shall be secure and the connecting power cable shall be hung on a high level avoiding this to be stolen again.

There is many other road lights were damaged by the thieves, and what is the DBKK and the authorities going to do about this? Edward said if there is no buyer, there will be no stealers! The authorities should step up the enforcement to conduct constant check on this to avoid further stealing to continue.

The scrap metal yards must not buy these items for a start. There should be regular surveillance by the DBKK enforcement to be conducted day and night, and Edward is suggesting that the street light maintenance contractor’s crews should put on their own uniform for easy identification. This is all because the thieves are stealing during the day time too, and it is hard to distinguish which one is the maintenance crew or the thief.