Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Never Ending Potholes Stories in JB, Jalan Berlubang (3)

Workers, for a week, are now making external toilet near the mango tree beside the kitchen of My house.
There is a deep cave in spot, more than a foot, at the front corner of  the house.

Having seen motorists involved in accident and death, because of unavoidable but should-be-covered potholes by MBJB, I shudder to think what the corner of My house can attract - fatal fall, the least.

I had reminded My Husband to tell the workers to help covering the pothole with the cement they were and are going to mix again, but they seemed to be reluctant, beyond their scope of work.

If it is their family members were to be injured at the pothole where they were reluctant to cover, what they are going to say to themselves?
How they are going to appease their troubling conscious?
Don't they live their lives with regrets?

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Residents Anxious Over A Deep Cave In Spot At Taman Ungku Tun Aminah
by Steven Chen

A deep cave-in hole has caused a major concern for the residents in Taman Ungku Tun Aminah. Despite filling up, the hole seems to cave in deeper, when ever the drains overflow during a heavy downpour

A three metres deep cave-in hole along a road shoulder in Jalan Laksamana 3, Lorong 4, Taman Ungku Tun Aminah is causing a lot of anxieties to the residents.
A resident who has been staying in the area for over thirty years, Mariamah Farid, 65 said she is feeling jittery and uneasy with the cave-in road shoulder which occurred just beside the corner of her house.
She said that the frequent overflowing of the drain and minor flooding after a heavy downpour may have resulted in the cave-in.
Komunitikini was told that, ever since the drain in the area has been covered with concrete cover which is meant to prevent water overflowing from the drain, the cave-in worsens.
Just two weeks after the contractors covered the drain, they came to fill-up the cave-in hole but after five days of filling up, the same spot started to caving in again. Said Mariamah.
Adding further, she said that her son went and took a measurement on the caved-in hole and was shocked that it was three metres deep.
She is worried some nasty incident may happen to her children and grandchildren who used to play outside the compound of the house if the caved-in hole is left open like that.
She said she had contacted JKR about the matter and was asked to refer to the local authority that is responsible for the drain maintenance.
Taman Ungku Tun Aminah is under the administration of Perbandaran Johor Bahru Tengah.
Mariamah did call the local authority several times but all her calls went into a voice recording system.
Meanwhile, the local authority said that they will follow-up on the matter.

Source: KomunitiKini - April 14, 2011

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Local Authorities: Potholes Drive Residents Potty
M. NAIR, Johor Bahru, Johor
letters@nst.com.my

 Some residents patch up potholes in housing estates themselves.
Some residents patch up potholes in housing estates themselves.
JOHOR Baru is a city with a great deal of history as it was established in 1855 and gained city status on Jan 1, 1994. It has undergone vast development but the state of the roads is a blight to motorists. The wet weather towards the end of January certainly proved how inferior they were.

Since then, nothing much has been done by the city council to improve the situation. It just does patch-up work.

It is surprising that it allows this situation to remain when all the affected stretches are within city limits and it doesn't have any reason to point the finger at the Public Works Department.
Many complaints have been made but it seems that the city council is immune to this. Its standard answer is that it had not been notified or that it would look into it.

Because of the council's inaction and out of frustration, some residents in housing estates patched up the potholes.

What is the point of having a colourful and informative website with abundant avenues for the public to complain when it cannot address basic complaints promptly?

Source: NST - March 22, 2011

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Pothole That Cost A Llife
By TEH ENG HOCK

JOHOR: It cost a life to get a pothole patched up.
Tan Cheng Ming, 20, was riding pillion on a motorcycle last Friday at 4am when the machine hit a pothole that was about as wide as a manhole and 5cm deep.
The impact caused Cheng Ming to be thrown off the motorcycle, and he sustained head injuries upon landing. He was rushed to the Sultan Ismail Hospital but died there.
His friend, Tam Tok Wei, 20, who was driving, escaped with minor injuries while the motorcycle was barely damaged except for some scratches and a bent front wheel.
Cheng Ming’s father, Robin Tan, said the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) patched up the pothole in Jalan Daya, Taman Daya, about two days after the accident.
“When there is a loss of life, only then will they act. We have to bring this up to the authorities, because we don’t want others to lose their loved ones, too.
“The street lights along that road are also not so bright as they are shaded by trees, so the rider might not have seen the pothole at night,” Tan told The Star.
The 53-year-old taxi driver said that with the exception of highways, many roads in Johor Baru are riddled with potholes.
Tan said they had started planning for Cheng Ming’s 21st birthday celebration next month when the accident occurred.
“Twenty years of love, and just like that, because of other people’s mistake, my son paid with his life,” he said.

Danger to road users: A photo of the pothole in Jalan Daya, Taman Daya in Johor Baru which the motorcycle Tam and Cheng Ming were riding hit last Friday.

Source: The Star - Friday, August 24, 2007

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Complaints On Potholes Pour In For JB Council 

JOHOR BARU: The telephones at the Johor Baru City Council are ringing off the hook with the public calling in to complain about potholes after The Star highlighted Panjang, the pothole patcher.
City council public relations officer Lokman Sulaiman said the number of calls to the council’s hotline had gone up following news reports last month about a 63-year-old man who went around covering up potholes in the city. He declined to give his name, merely calling himself Panjang.
“We received 12 calls today from people complaining about potholes,” Lokman said.
He said the hotline, which was set up 10 years ago, received about 150 complaints each month.

HOLE-Y TASK: Workers hired by Johor Baru City Council patching up potholes along Jalan Merdeka in Kampung Melayu, Johor Baru.
Meanwhile, Panjang, who has become a local hero of sorts, need not go about his back-breaking tasks much longer. Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said the city council should bear the responsibility of maintaining the city's roads.
“We appreciate what he has done, but he should be relieved of what he is doing,” Ghani told reporters yesterday.
However, Ghani stopped short of saying whether Panjang would receive an award from the state government in recognition of his efforts.
Repair works have accelerated following public complaints about potholes.
The task is divided into three phases. The first stage began in December last year.
“Every phase is divided into three zones – the city, the western and eastern zones,” Lokman said, adding that the council had already spent RM1.2mil to patch up potholes around the areas under its jurisdiction.
“We allocated RM200,000 to every zone.”
The city zone covered roads such as Jalan Wong Ah Fook and Jalan Abu Bakar, while the western and eastern zones covered roads in housing areas along Jalan Skudai and Jalan Tebrau, respectively.

Source: The Star - Thursday, February 9, 2006

***I was out of the gate to get some cooked food for the workers this afternoon.
I did not intend to cook, as We had a place to go, and I have yet to finish yesterday's jackfruit in coconut milk and fried chicken.
It is not nice to give them what they ate yesterday, so I bought Mayong (???) fish in chilli and pumpkin in coconut milk.

I've got the surprise of My life. 
The pothole I mentioned, and other smaller ones, were all covered. 
Not with cement and gravels, but gravels and sand.
I asked My Husband if He did it, but no, the answer. 
He did go out to attend to it Himself, after the last time I spoke about it, and He found out all, big and small, were covered. 
He had completely forgotten to tell Me, though.

Did anybody hear Me out? 
Or another Panjang around My area? 
So, this is going to be the last of "The Never Ending Potholes Stories in JB, Jalan Berlubang?" 
GOD Willing.

To you, the good-hearted being, THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!!!  

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