THE Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) has suspended four waste management contractors (for an indefinite period) for their below par performance in carrying out garbage collection in their respective areas.
They have been replaced by a back-up team.
This comes after show cause letters were issued to the waste management collection managers (PPSP), who were unable to overcome the situation within 24 hours.
These include PPSP13 — Taman Seri Intan, Taman Indah Jaya, Taman Industri Lembah Jaya, Lembah Jaya Utara, Lembah Jaya Selatan, Lembah Jaya Timur, Kuari Golden Plus, Kg Muhibbah, Desa Lembah Permai, Taman Halaman, Taman Halaman Indah, Taman Sri Ampang, Taman Bukit Ampang, Taman Kesuma and part of Bandar Baru Ampang, PPSP14 — Taman Mulia Jaya, Taman Ampang Saujana, Taman Dagang Jaya and Taman Dagang Permai, PPSP15 — Bukit Ampang Permai, Kg Tasik Permai, Kg Tasek Tambahan Kg Tasek Tambahan (Klg), PKNS Kg Tasek Tambahan and Taman Permai Jaya and PPSP28- Taman Ampang Mewah, Part of Pandan Indah, Taman Pandan Cahaya, Kg. Baru Ampang Tambahan and Taman Cahaya IKS Industri Ringan.
Five more PPSPs have also been issued with show cause letters for poor scheduling and not collecting garbage on time.
According to MPAJ urban services and health director Dr Sarodin Shahri, the council had been monitoring the work progress of the new contractors.
“We hold briefings every morning. We have now replaced the contractors with our back-up ones.
“The root cause of this problem is that there wasn’t any commitment on the part of the contractors in executing their task.
“Some of the other problems with the new contractors are familiarisation of the area, identifying their tasks, border issues and logistics.
“For example, Kg Ampang is a small area, so they can’t use compactors to collect the waste while others have trouble differentiating between bulk and solid waste.
“The PPSPs are supposed to collect from housing areas while the public cleaning managers are assigned to open spaces, playgrounds or illegal dumpsites,” he said.
He added that the council was trying to help the new contractors identify their given tasks and was working to address the issues.
On complaints regarding services by previous contractor Alam Flora Sdn Bhd and the newly-appointed contractors, Sarodin said: “Changes take time.”
He said it was natural for people to compare as they were familiar with Alam Flora but transition needs patience.
“At least seven out of 36 appointed contractors are considered veterans while more than half of the managers are old faces but like Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had said, waste management is a small industry with about 20 key people involved.
“We will be having a briefing with the councillor on this matter in an attempt to tackles some of the issues surrounding solid waste management,” he said, adding that the contractors were working to handle their own areas.
He also said since March 2, MPAJ had 313 complaints but as of March 15, only 35 have been recorded.
