THE Seberang Prai Municipal Council has allocated RM239,330 to repair and maintain all digital countdown timers in 61 traffic light junctions on the mainland.
Municipal councillor Soon Lip Chee said up until Jan 30, timers in 14 traffic light junctions had been repaired.
“The council hopes to complete repair work on the remaining timers by early next month.
“These timers are to help motorists be aware of the time that they have to cross a traffic light junction,” he said when inspecting a countdown timer set at the Jalan Raja Uda-Jalan Ong Yi How junction in Butterworth yesterday
Soon said the cost to repair 21 timer sets in north Seberang Prai was RM87,880, the repair for 31 timers sets in central Seberang Prai was RM128,830 while in south Seberang Prai, nine timers would be repaired at RM22,620.
Soon said many of the digital timers had become less efficient over the years, adding that the council was unable to maintain all of them due to financial constraints back then.
“In 2010, the council allocated about RM100,000 to repair the timers on major roads only.
“But, since the council’s financial situation has improved, it decided to set aside RM239,330 this year to maintain all the timers,” he said.
Bagan DAP Socialist Youth chief V. Krishna @ Gopal Naidu said many motorists had complained of the faulty digital timers and were disappointed that the council had dragged its feet to get them repaired.
“These digital timers use LED lights that can easily get spoilt due to rain and hot weather conditions.
“We hope the council will install digital timers in more traffic light junctions in the near future,” he said, noting that a set of four units of digital timers cost between RM10,000 and RM20,000.
Those who wish to request digital timers to be installed in traffic light junctions in their neighbourhood or wish to have the time on the timers adjusted, can contact the council’s Engineering Department at 04-5497700.
To report faulty digital timers, contact 04-5497608 or toll-free number 1-800-88-6777.
