Kota Kinabalu: Despite providing more than 80 garbage bins, stop-littering signages and visible cleanliness campaign posters, the tidiness and cleanliness aspects at the Tanjung Aru Park remain a major concern to local authorities and public at large.
The indiscriminate littering are evidently proof that the level of cleanliness awareness among visitors is still disappointing.
Given the existing scenario, Tanjung Aru Eco Development Sdn Bhd (TAED) is considering taking serious action on visitors of the Tanjung Aru park for littering.
Its new Chairman, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin bin Haji Mulia, said the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) had already started imposing a maximum fine of RM500 on those who are caught littering.
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Their “couldn’t care less” attitude is clearly apparent when rubbish including fast food packaging, cigarette butts, used plastic drinking bottles and food wrappers are abandoned at public seating areas, he said,
It is clear, Pandikar said, that these group of visitors had become unacceptably nonchalant towards basic hygiene or even simple community attitudes as reluctance to throw away trash appropriately is very obvious to anyone visiting the park.
“Perhaps a false belief that someone else will clean up after them has become their normal mode of justification.”
It is very common to see soiled, dirty diapers left on top of washing counters in the public toilets while the rubbish bins are just two steps away!
This is the painful reality faced by the maintenance teams every day, and the situation is exacerbated on weekends and public holidays, Pandikar opined.
“Maybe it is high time for TAED to consider taking serious and consequential action on those who neglect the environment,” he stressed.
He said this is part of the management’s initiative to beef up its enforcement of public park cleanliness, as littering in these communal spaces not only spoils the aesthetic value of Tanjung Aru beach but also negatively affects local tourism as a whole.
Ever since DBKK handed over the responsibility of managing the cleaning and maintenance of carried out as early as 7am all the way till 4pm daily without fail with extra focus on the public favourite places within the Prince Philip Park. beachfront and hawkers’ centre.
“Would it therefore be unreasonable for TAED to humbly request that all visitors adopt a better sense of community and a less selfish sense of public awareness in order that these public parks do not end up becoming a health hazard to visitors and tourists alike?” Pandikar added.
It was learned that TAED will continue to introduce new attractions to bring about more life and vibrancy back to the Tanjung Aru public parks.
However, these activities will only be operational on a short-term basis until the Tanjung Aru Eco Development project officially commences.