Council staff cleaning up Hutan Bandar MBJB park.
TO provide the public with a more enjoyable experience outdoors, Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) has allocated RM2.05mil for park maintenance this year.
Johor Baru mayor Datuk Mohd Noorazam Osman said there were eight parks in Johor Baru under the council’s jurisdiction.
The biggest one is the Hutan Bandar MBJB park, which is 20.2ha and attracts big crowds.
Then there are the Pelangi Indah recreational parks in Jalan Pesona (16.5ha) and Jalan Menawan 2 (4.8ha); Taman Merdeka (12.2ha); Setia Indah town park (7.4ha); Laman Tasik Pandan in Taman Desa Harmoni (6.5ha); and Taman Bunga Raya in Susur 6, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak (4.8ha).
Noorazam: Our team will visit the parks from time to time to monitor the situation.The Tunku Mahkota Ismail Youth Centre and Taman Orkid, located within Hutan Bandar MBJB grounds, were also popular, he added.
According to the mayor, RM159,000 was spent last year on park repairs.
The work included replacing outdoor gym equipment, installing subsoil pipes and landscaping.
Pedestrian walkways, benches and roofs of gazebos were also repaired.
“We also spent more than RM3mil to upgrade the facilities in Taman Merdeka such as the public toilets, walkways and wading pool,” Noorazam said in an interview with StarMetro.
He added that Hutan Bandar, Taman Orkid, Taman Merdeka and Taman Bunga Raya were maintained “in-house” by MBJB’s own landscaping department while the maintenance of the other parks was outsourced to contractors.
“The maintenance of the softscape (flowers, trees) and hardscape (concrete, bricks, stones) as well as cleaning works are done based on a schedule to ensure that the parks are always in good condition.
“Rubbish is collected daily at the parks while dried leaves and fallen twigs are also swept up to keep a tidy look,” said Noorazam, adding that the public toilets at the parks were cleaned twice a day.
Other works include grass cutting, plant trimming, mulching and adding fertilisers and pesticides to the plants when necessary.
“Our team will visit the parks from time to time to monitor the situation,” said Noorazam.
“Minor damage that call for replacements or repairs will be done through contractors that we appoint annually, while the more serious damage will involve more planning in order to fix the problem.
“Our parks are sometimes vandalised; for example, amenities defaced with graffiti,” he said, adding that this problem was due to a lack of appreciation for public property.
Noorazam said hiring security guards to patrol the public parks had helped to reduce the problem.
“I hope that visitors will not vandalise the facilities.
“MBJB is doing its best to take care of the public spaces,” he added. — By Yee Xiang Yun
