All together: The group cutting the trees along Jalan Cecily in Sandakan.
KOTA KINABALU: A group of villagers got together with workers from the state utility company and Telekom Malaysia to cut down several trees that posed a safety risk to the public at a busy village road in Sandakan.
The group of about 40 people including personnel from Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) worked hard on Sunday before they completed the task on Jalan Cecily in a village in Karamunting.
Karamunting assemblyman Datuk George Hiew Vun initiated the drive amid incidents of falling trees in the country, some of which ended in tragedy.
“We managed to cut down more than 10 big trees that potentially posed a risk to people.
“Well done and thank you to all those involved in making this effort a success, which has made Jalan Cecily safer now.
“I appreciate the cooperation from everyone, especially the villagers, as they are also aware that safety and the well-being of their area is a shared responsibility,” he said when contacted.
According to Hiew, several big trees were uprooted at nearby Jalan Yap Syn Kee previously and damaged telecommunication lines besides obstructing traffic.
While it was fortunate that the incidents did not damage any houses or hurt anyone, he said, such occurrences must be prevented.
“Hence, this is why we have conducted large-scale tree-cutting exercises in several locations in the Karamunting constituency after receiving feedback from the local communities.
“The participation of the residents in the gotong-royong not only improves the sense of community but also helps my Karamunting task force team to identify and resolve more issues of trees posing safety risks,” he said.
Hiew said the team held two tree-cutting initiatives along the main roads in Sandakan last year, adding that there are plans to do something similar before the end of this year.
He is happy to note that, since the inception of the task force last year, local residents have begun to realise and appreciate its functions.
“They are using the team as a hotline to report on various other issues besides uprooted trees, such as malfunctioning streetlights, landslides, damaged pipelines and fallen electricity poles, among others.
“After getting the complaints, our team will immediately channel them to the relevant government departments and agencies for the next course of action, as well as follow-up on the complaints,” he said.
As such, Hiew urged residents to continue to reach out to the task force, saying that they will do their best to help the people find solutions to their issues, especially those that involve matters of safety.
