Monday February 6, 2012

Alam Flora: Let us manage Little India

By BAVANI M
bavanim@thestar.com.my

ALAM Flora has come out to clear the air over who should be responsible in maintaining the general cleanliness of Kuala Lumpur’s Little India in Brickfields.

Responding to StarMetro’s front page report on Feb 3 entitled The Facade Fades over the tourist landmark’s neglected state, Alam Flora Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mohd Zain Hassan said that while Little India did not fall under its purview; the company was willing to take over the contract to clean up the township for a fee.

“We are only responsible for waste management and cleaning of areas surrounding Brickfields, but not Little India and the privatised areas,” he explained.

“Let’s also be clear here, we do not do toilets and the hawker centre in Lorong Chan Ah Tong is not under our jurisdiction either,” he stressed.

Frequent cleaning: MRCB contractors cleaning up the elephant fountain in Little India, Brickfields.

“But having said that, we are the experts when it comes to waste management hence we are willing to offer our services to help clean up Little India if needed.

“Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) can officially write to the solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corp (PPSPPA) and request that we (Alam Flora) take over the job (cleaning Little India). We are more than willing, after all we are already doing it partially,’’ he added.

On the deplorable state of the former police headquarters in Brickfields, Mohd Zain said that since the police land belonged to a private entity, the onus was on that party to clean up the area.

“It (the land) is in a bad state and can be hazardous to the public, so they (land owner) can engage our services to clean up the area as well,” he said.

He said that Alam Flora would hold a meeting with the stakeholders of Brickfields next week to find ways to keep Little India clean and that a campaign to clean up Brickfields would be launched.

“We will engage the public, teach them the right way to dispose rubbish, the do’s and the don’ts and Alam Flora’s role,” he disclosed.

He added that the public could call 1800-88-7472 for details.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd (MRCB), the developer and contractor for Little India, has appointed a contractor to clean up the temporary hawker centre at the Chan Ah Tong field.

The contractors hired by the developer were seen cleaning up the area recently. The hawker centre was in a neglected state and an eyesore.

In an emailed statement to StarMetro, its corporate communi-cations general manager Mohaini Mohd Yusof said MRCB had appointed a contractor to demolish the temporary hawker centre in stages.

Currently, the demolition works are in progress as part of the Little India redevelopment plan.

The statement highlighted that only eight food and five flower stalls still remained at the hawker centre as their allocated sites were yet to be ready.

The rest have been relocated accordingly.

The remaining hawkers are now being relocated within one confined row of stalls in the temporary centre.

Demolition work is being carried out in stages and is expected to be fully completed by the end of February when the remaining stalls have been successfully relocated.

On the elephant fountain in Little India, MRCB said the company had adopted the Little India Fountain for three years, starting 2010.

The adoption means that the company maintains and cleans the fountain until 2013. The fountain is running smoothly and is not out of order, the statement added.

Currently, the fountain is operated on a scheduled timing and is guarded by security personnel hired by MRCB on a 24-hour basis.

Occasional shut-downs are required for maintenance.

It was reported that stakeholders in Little India complained that the multi-million ringgit iconic landmark which has been the pride of the Indian community for over a century is losing its old world charm due to neglect.

They claim that government agencies like DBKL, Alam Flora and MRCB contractors and even the police are not doing their job to maintain the tourist landmark despite numerous complaints made.