(Front row, from left) Khairi, Aiman and Sepang deputy district officer (Development) Raja Shahrul Iezwan Raja Mohd Zien at the soft-launch of the project in Sepang. — ART CHEN/The Star
Deputy minister says RM700,000 project benefits 16 neighbourhoods, pledges action on copper cable theft
SIXTEEN traditional villages in Sepang, Selangor, have received four to eight solar lights each to brighten up their neighbourhoods.
Sepang MP Datuk Aiman Athirah Sabu said she used about one-third of the RM2mil allocation under the Projek Mesra Rakyat programme to procure the solar lights, after receiving requests from a number of villagers.
Aiman, who is also Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister, said the RM700,000 allocation was given to Sepang District and Land Office for project implementation.
“A total of 113 solar lights were installed last month.
“These included a total of six units at Sepang District and Land Office.
“Each light cost about RM6,000,” she said at the soft-launch of the project.
Also present at the event held at Sepang District and Land Office was Sepang district officer Khairi Azali Ibrahim.
Aiman said a total of 44 villages were part of Sepang and Kuala Langat districts.
“The 16 villages were chosen based on applications received from village representatives requesting for solar lights.
“Some villages have received solar lights from other sponsors and agencies.
“My contribution was to fill in the gaps and needs of villages that have yet to receive any solar lights,” she added.
Aiman encouraged all district residents representatives to write in with any proposal to improve conditions in their neighbourhoods.
Aiman also spoke about the long-standing problem of copper cables being stolen from street lamps.
“Copper cables are very expensive.
“If stolen, replacing it costs a lot of money and thus takes a long time.
“There are street lamps in Sepang that have not been replaced for over a decade because of copper cable theft,” she revealed.
She said the state was looking at ways to prevent such thefts, including installing closed circuit television cameras and affixing sensors to street lamps to alert authorities of vandals in real-time.
“We also need the public to be alert and inform authorities if they see suspicious characters near street lamps,” she said.
