Alam Flora submits proposal for rubbish collection

ALAM Flora has submitted a proposal to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to be officially appointed the contractor in charge of collecting the rubbish in the Segambut Industrial Area, Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng revealed.

He said this during a press conference after visiting a site along Jalan Raja Arfah in the industrial area that has been an illegal dumpsite over the last 20 years.

“Though it is not Alam Flora’s responsibility to collect the rubbish in industrial areas, they still came by here twice a week to clear the road as a kind of corporate social responsibility. But there is no end to it and the rubbish piles up again soon after,” he highlighted.

Lim said Alam Flora informed him about their proposal but DBKL had yet to respond.

“I will follow up on the matter with DBKL and ask them to come up with a permanent solution to handle this problem. It is unfair to the people here to have to hire their own contractor to collect their rubbish because they are ratepayers too,” he said, stressing that the problem had been going on for more than 20 years.

The rubbish is typically dumped by the road within a 100m stretch just beside Kompleks Sentul, along Jalan Raja Arfah.

Previous reports said the dump consisted of household waste with some industrial and commercial waste. It has attracted scavengers, thus raising health concerns.

One resident from the nearby area said sometimes small portions of the dump would be on fire, but so far the flames did not get too big.

“Sometimes, there would be so much rubbish that it spills over onto the road and there traffic congestion because of drivers trying to avoid it,” the resident said.

Nearby, How Lim Aong temple chairman Wong Mun Soon said the place was an eyesore and there was a stench at times.

“There are a few such dumping sites in this area. I think the authorities should place some big rubbish bins around here,” he said.

Currently, the site has been cleared and sealed off by the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA), which, according to DBKL, is also responsible for collecting and clearing industrial waste.

During a visit to the site on Saturday, a PPSPPA vehicle was seen patrolling the area.

Alam Flora and PPSPPA were contacted for comments but had yet to respond at press time.