Stinking up the neighbourhood

The owners of 12 shophouses and 10 residents in Batu Settlement, Jalan Ipoh in Kuala Lumpur have been putting up with a clogged sewerage system for the past six months.

Paval Arumugam said his shop’s toilet was overflowing with faeces and customers were put off by the smell.

He added that they had been facing the problem since 2008 due to the standalone sewerage system.

The system gets clogged because it is not connected to the Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) pipe. Shoplots on the opposite row have a different system that is maintained by the IWK.

Paval and his neighbours do not enjoy the services nor do they pay the IWK for its services.

“It is embarrassing for me to decline my customers the use of the toilet. I have to resort to ask them to use some of our neighbours’ facilities,” he said.

He added that it was usually the units downstairs that had clogged toilets and some had resorted to directing the water into the drains.

Paval’s neighbour, Tony Soh, 50, said some of the manhole covers for the underground sewerage system were missing, making it dangerous for children and senior citizens who use the backlanes.

He said some shop owners had bought their own covers to prevent unwanted incidents.

A restaurant worker, who declined to be named, said he and the other workers were forced to clean the clogged outlets recently to ensure the water outlet was free.

Paval has tried to lodge complaints with the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and IWK twice but both parties have declined to take up the task.

According to IWK, the shopowners would have to hire private contractors to clear the clogged system.

“We do not mind paying IWK the fees like all the others but we just want somebody to take the responsibility. It is now nobody’s baby,” he added.

To make matters worse, some irresponsible people are throwing the garbage in open manholes due to the lack of a designated collection area.

Despite numerous complaints, the collection has not improved leaving the entire area dirty and messy.

IWK Kuala Lumpur head of section (pipelines) Abdul Ghani Mohamed said the pipeline was a private service.

He said there could be several reasons why the pipes were not connected to the public lines.

However, Ghani said he would meet the affected parties to advise them on the best course of action.

“We will advise them to hire contractors to fix and maintain the system since it is a private one.

“IWK usually sends three different contractors to look at the problem and ask them to quote the price.

“We will then recommend to the clients to hire the contractor with the cheapest quotation,” he added.

Source:PRIYA MENON(priya@thestar.com.my)