State capital parking woes found remedy

 

 Lately, there have been several grouses over parking spaces in the state capital. Luyang Assemblyman Hiew King Cheu made his statement known to City Hall Mayor Abidin Madingkir over lacking of parking lots in and suggested to have a monorail to replace the existing public transportation system.

This issue is not a new thing being talked about. After so many years, I think the previous Mayors have ever mentioned that there should have a clear cut indication or solution for such matter. In fact, I personally think that Abidin has been giving his best effort over so much thing raised by the Oppositions.

Abidin has announced that the City Rapid Transit System will be available in Sabah by October 2015, and that's a good start for us. If you are care enough, he has layed out some strategies to address such a matter. First thing first, the Supply Management Strategies to supply more parking spaces for the public.

The second one would be the Demand Management Strategies in which the problem will be anticipated and managed them in a sustainable manner. How? By making sure motorists are playing their role well. Don't keep expecting the authorities serve you better if you have less initiative to do so.

No, I am not blaming anyone here. I am one of the motorists and road users here. Bear in mind that the City Hall has indeed helping out. Take your time and look at them.

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City Rapid Transit (BRT) system to be ready in October 2015

KOTA KINABALU: The City Rapid Transit (BRT) system, work on which is scheduled to begin in September, is expected to be ready by October 2015, according Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir.

Commenting on the proposal of Luyang assemblyman Dr Hiew King Cheu to build a monorail system in the city centre, Abidin said the population in the city cannot support the suggestion.

“In order to sustain a monorail system, it requires a certain number of population, but our population here is not up to the level yet.

“The most important thing is to implement a BRT system, where we will develop three main bus terminals to load buses from southern, eastern and northern part of the city,” he said.

Abidin explained that the southern terminal will be built in Kepayan while northern terminal is the upgraded version of Inanam Terminal, and the eastern terminal will be located in Penampang district.

After all three terminals are completed, all buses and mini buses will not be allowed to enter the city centre except shuttle buses and city buses, he said.

The current Wawasan Terminal will be the permanent station for both shuttle and city buses, according to Abidin.

“Our joint-venture partner will start upgrading the Wawasan Terminal by September, and the buses will be moved to other temporary locations until the three main terminals are completed.”

Abidin said the three new terminals are part of the BRT system, which is under City Hall Public Masterplan Transport.

He was speaking to reporters after visiting Dataran Deasoka Ramadan Bazaar accompanied by City Hall director general Datuk Yeo Boon Hai and CCK Fresh Mart Sdn Bhd area manager Raja Chandra Lingham.


CCK Fresh Mart has contributed a total of 105 aprons to Ramadan Bazaar stall operators which were handed over by Abidin.

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City Hall to hold CNY night market

Kota Kinabalu: City Hall will hold the Open Night Market during Chinese New Year along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens, the Kota Kinabalu Central Market, Segama, UNCHR Market and Foh Sang Luyang Open Market from Feb 8 at 1pm to 1am the following day.
To make way for this event, a number of roads will be closed from 12 noon on Feb 8 until 3am, Feb 9; namely along Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens, starting from the Le Meridien traffic light to the Hotel Hyatt Regency Kinabalu circle, Jalan Lapan Belas, Jalan Tujuh Belas, Jalan Segama, Jalan Enam Belas (block heading towards Cash & Carry stores and the first block Segama), the entrance to the Safma parking area, Kota Kinabalu Central Market, Golden City shops road and the roundabout near KFC and also the intersection in Foh Sang.
In the meantime, the Kota Kinabalu Central Market will be closed for Chinese New Year celebrations for three days on Feb 10, 11 and 12.

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Energy-saving bulbs for some KK areas

Kota Kinabalu: City Hall has identified some areas in the city to be lit by energy saving bulbs to help save on utility bills this year.

Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir on Wednesday said City Hall would begin the installation of such bulbs like Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs in a pilot project, to determine its viability, soon.

"Certainly the use of LED is much cheaper from the existing lamps É we will not replace them all at once, but the installation will be done gradually, in phases," he said.

Preliminary results of a pilot project in the peninsula, revealed LED bulbs used in 12 government buildings in Putrajaya showed average savings of 10.3 per cent or RM3.5million from January-October last year.

The move could help the Government save up to RM800 million from the RM2.7 billion it spends each year.

However, the cost of implementing the plan is costly, revealed Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, Datuk Seri Peter Chin.

Madingkir said City Hall also plans to have multi-storey carparks to address the city's parking space constraints.

Admitting the city parking spaces are limited, he said construction of such car parks however, does not come cheap.

"So like I said beforeÉwe need the private sector to come forward and collaborate with City Hall."

Currently, City Hall is also in discussion with some parties to construct the multi-storey carparks, however its execution won't begin this year, Madingkir said.

Meanwhile, Abidin attributed the city's large population of close to half a million - to it having the highest number of drug abuse cases in the State.

He said he had heard the police talking about yearly increases in students involved in the drug menace and the State-level Drug Prevention Action Council, raising concern over the increase in drug abuse cases.

Madingkir added the council also said the city currently has the highest number of reported cases, compared to tother districts.

And in recent years, there have been instances of youths, especially young girls, being used as drug mules to transport drugs by dealers, he said.

"In spite of the harsh punishment, it does not deter some pushers from selling drugs," he said during the closing of a Pemadam programme, here.

Hence, Madingkir hoped City Pemadam will beef up their programmes and prevention measures and that their effort will be aided by other agencies.

"Security issue is also one of City Hall's priorities, as it is stressed under our 5K agenda - Clean, Beautiful, Safety, Organised and Peaceful," he said.

City Hall D-G Datuk Dr Yeo Boon Hai revealed the increases are especially among students under 21, and are caused by the changing lifestyles of modern society.

He also blamed the lack of awareness on the dangers of drug abuse for youths being involved in the menace.

On the Pemadam programme, Madingkir said the Pemadam Women Affairs Bureau's "Cekap" programme, will be the association's first programme for this year.

The Cekap programme, which stands for excellence, efficient, cooperation, trustworthy and progressive, is an awareness programme on the drug menace in the city and directed at principals and headmasters of primary and secondary schools in the city.

A total of 94 participants took part in the half-day programme, which involved two lectures, a briefing and a question and answer session.

"The programme will also allow school heads to pick suitable activities to be introduced in their schools," Madingkir said.

He also hoped schools will organise their own anti-drug activities.

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City Hall to build gallery for historical collections

 
 Kota Kinabalu: City Hall plans to build a gallery to store and showcase historical collections about the city.
City mayor, Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim, said that the time has come for the city to have the gallery for the benefit of the public including tourists.

“I hope that one day we’ll have a gallery to keep our collections for future reference,” he said when launching ‘The Story of Kota Kinabalu – Past, Present and Future’ exhibition yesterday.

Iliyas said although the City Hall has an exisiting gallery located on the 7th floor at Centre Point, it is still too small for storage of the increasing historical items.

Meanwhile, Human Resource and Information Technology Minister, Datuk Yee Moh Chai, when opening the exhibition said that Sabah should have so much to offer to the outside world for it is blessed with diverse cultures and natural beauty.

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