METAL THEFTS DENT COFFERS

HAZARD..... Metal thefts are posing a serious road hazard as the wheel of a motor vehicle can get stuck in a manhole with a missing cover.

By : LIAN CHENG

METAL thefts are costing the local councils a bundle every year through widespread stealing of public properties such as manhole and drain covers as well as grilles for roadside pavements and office buildings.

Expressing concern over such ‘unnecessary’ losses, the four local councils have called for enforcement of the Second Hand Dealers Act 1946 to be accelerated.

They said this would help prevent unnecessary financial losses for the councils not only from thefts of manhole and drain covers but also copper wires and housing materials.

Just last year, Kuching South City Council (MBKS) suffered an estimated loss of RM220,000 to metal thefts while Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) lost RM400,000, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC), RM100,000, and Padawan Municipal Council (MPP), RM350,000.

The losses used to be double, especially two years back when metal thefts left a big dent in the coffers of both MPP and SMC.

MPP reported the highest loss in 2010 when it spent RM900,000 on replacing missing manhole and drain covers as well as grilles, its chairman Lo Khere Chiang revealed.

According to him, a 200kg heavy-duty manhole cover on top of a culvert in the middle of the road costs about RM800 while a 20kg backlane sewer manhole cover costs RM145.

While it is expensive for a local council to purchase one of these covers, a ‘metal’ thief can sell it to the scrap yard for a much cheaper price.

For instance, a new 20kg metal cover can cost RM145 but may be sold second-hand for RM20, or at most RM24, as the going price for scrap metal is RM1 to RM1.20 per kg.

Unnecessary losses

 

NOT SPARED...... Drain covers are also targetted by ‘metal’ thieves.

Money lost to metal theft is something unnecessary and should not be happening. Apart from putting an unnecessary strain on their resources, metal theft also poses a nuisance to the daily operations of the local councils.

No one notices a manhole or drain cover when it is there but everyone notices it when it is not there.

“We receive complaints about missing manhole covers every now and then. Once we know a manhole or drain cover has been stolen, we have to replace it as soon as possible because a hole in the middle of the road is dangerous to road users,” MBKS Mayor Datu James Chan said.

In tackling metal theft, some local councils had experimented with wooden covers but discovered it was not a good solution, especially for SMC.

“In Sibu, wooden manhole covers were used before but they proved ineffective because being light, they could be easily washed away by flood water.

“Furthermore, they were not very lasting as they tended to rot after getting soaked,” SMC deputy chairman Daniel Ngieng noted.

Enforcement will help scrap metal industry

The local councils have found a way to counter rampant metal thefts with most of them having been resorting to concrete covers since two years ago.

It is an effective counter-measure because concrete covers are heavy and lasting but have no resell value.

As a result, losses from metal thefts have decreased tremendously over the past two years. Even so, replacing metal covers with concrete ones is not totally problem-free.

The support of the covers has to be re-structured in order to fit the thicker concrete covers. And this takes time.

“So sometimes on busy streets where immediate action is needed to replace missing manhole covers, we are forced to use the metal type because they can be replaced much more quickly.

“In certain areas, we cannot replace them fast enough. As soon as one (metal cover) is replaced, it gets stolen overnight,” Lo lamented.

The councils are now using a mixture of concrete covers and metal covers. The latest version of the latter can be locked or screwed to the ground. Wooden covers are also used but only for a temporary purpose. Manhole and drain covers now have to be screwed to the ground to prevent metal theft.

Enforcement of Act

The local councils have called for enforcement of the Second Hand Dealers Act 1946 to be stepped up.

“Definitely, enforcement will help. The Act requires all those involved in second-hand goods business to keep proper records of their dealings.

“The Act will also enable the police to make surprise checks. The penalty will discourage people from dealing in stolen goods,” DBKU mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahab said.

Meanwhile, Chan, who is confident the state government will enforce the Act soon, said with enforcement, the council could carry out spot checks together with the police at the premises of second hand goods dealers.

He added that this would deter the dealers from buying stolen items and also make it possible for the council to reclaim some of its stolen manhole covers.

“Even manhole covers with MBKS logo have gone missing. And if we can do spot checks, we can reclaim some of them.”

Chan urged dealers of second-hand goods to exercise their social responsibility by refusing to buy public properties such as manhole and drain covers.

“With the co-operation of these dealers, thefts of such items can be effectively tackled,” he said.

Ngieng who proposed the drafting of a law to regulate the buying and selling of recyclables during his tenure as Bukit Assek state assemblyman in 2003 and as a backbencher from 2001 to 2006, said he would like to see the Act enforced soon.

“The purpose is not to stifle the scrap metal industry. Instead, it helps the industry by regulating sales of all second-hand goods, including plastic recyclable items which used to be discarded as rubbish.

“The problem now is with the demand and the resultant price hike, recyclable items continue go missing because there are people stealing and selling them as second-hand goods,” Ngieng noted. (BP)