THE Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has terminated the services of its two newly-appointed contractors for failing to fulfil their responsibilities which had caused the disruption of rubbish collection in several places on the island recently.
Announcing the decision in Komtar today, MBPP mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang said it was crucial to resolve the issue and prevent it from happening again.
Yew said MBPP had issued them a ‘Notice of Failure’ on Jan 12, demanding an explanation from the respective contractors for failure to provide the services in accordance with the contract.
“Each of them submitted a written representation to the city council on Jan 16.
“After careful consideration, MBPP found that their written representations were irrelevant and violated the contractual obligations.
“Among the reasons they gave was that the trucks they ordered to carry out the waste collection works did not arrive yet.
“This is unacceptable as waste collection management is a very important matter involving the cleanliness of the state as a whole.
“Thus, we decided to terminate the contract of these two contractors with effect from Feb 20,” he said.
According to Yew, MBPP has already taken over the responsibility of managing the waste collection in every location that was previously managed by the two contractors.
“The areas involved were Seri Delima and Air Itam in the Bukit Gelugor parliamentary constituency, as well as Batu Uban and Pantai Jerejak in the Bayan Baru parliamentary constituency.
“We have decided to manage the waste collection in these locations permanently without looking for new contractors to take over,” he said.
With that decision, MBPP has now taken over the waste collection management at the Bayan Baru and Bukit Gelugor parliamentary constituencies in addition to the Balik Pulau parliamentary constituency that it has been managing.
The waste collection services in other areas on the island by old contractors are reported to be good.
Yew also said any complaints regarding collection service delays can be channelled to the MBPP hotline (24 hours) at 04-2637637/7000 or 04-2824282/04-2633000 (office hours).
Also present during the press conference was Air Itam assemblyman Joseph Ng Soo Siang.
Ng also expressed his utmost gratitude to the MBPP for its proactive action to solve the garbage collection issue.
Story and pix by Riadz Akmal