He said the clearing work would start soon as a suitable contractor is
appointed, adding that the work must be carried out as soon as possible, as it posed health hazards to the public especially to the wet market traders working in the fish, meat and pork sections.

"At the same time, I implore the traders not to use the manholes and other drainage system to dump meat and fish wastes and other type of refuse into the manhole," he said, adding that the food hawkers on the first floor must also be equally responsible not to throw food wastes into the already clogged pipes.

Tiong also said the understood that this problem had been long-standing and he hoped the BDA would take prompt action to clean up the manholes and the affected drainage system.

"At the present time, the BDA had indicated to me that it is short of manpower but it promised to do the massive cleanup soon, " Tiong added.

He said under BDA cleanliness and beautification program, the authority planned to clean up and beautify central market and its surrounding areas so that the marketplace would look all spruced up and clean and attractive to tourists to the uniqueness of Bintulu market, apart from presenting a cleaner environment and cleaner produce to market goers.

Tiong said the market traders had complained the him that the manholes and pipes were clogged as a result of indiscriminate dumping of excessive food and meat wasters into them.

"As the manhole functionally served to drain out excessive water on the market floor, it had over the years been discriminately used to dump the wastesx, thus causing massive clogging up and health hazards to the traders as well as the market goers," he said.

Tiong added that it was pointless at this point of time of blaming or pointing fingers to anyone who caused the clogging or those responsible in cleaning them up.

"However, it would be good if we could work together to resolve the problem at hand rather than pointing fingers at each other," he said.

He hoped that this time around, the market traders would give their full co-operation in flushing out their wastes through proper channels and not to use the manholes as a quick way.

He said, they should use garbage bins to discard their waster products and not resorting to indiscriminate practices of dumping the wastes whenever or wherever they like.  

It was important that the hawkers uphold good hygienic practices and methods when handling food and meat wastes and other type of refuse while protecting the public health and environment, he said.

Tiong also apologized to the market traders over the delay in cleaning up the manholes and he had discussed with the BDA to sort out the problem immediately.

At the same time, he said the hawkers should all thank the BDA for a positive response over the matter and for its prompt assistance and co-operation.

Tiong assured the people that the BDA had been responsive to the complaints and grouses put forward by the public, adding that the BDA has improved significantly over the years.

He also advised the people inclduing market traders not to resort to voicing their problems and dissatisfactions through improper channels, as it would worsen the situation.

"If they are not satisfied with the authorities, they could voice them to me, my service centre or any other BN elected representatives. We could then sit down to discuss and find an amicable solution to their problems," he said. 

On the defeat of Kidurong state seat in the recent state election, Tiong said there was a need for the Barisan Nasional component parties to carry out a post-mortem on why it lost such an important seat to the Opposition.

"Nevertheless, we must thank the voters who supported the BN in Kidurong and other state seats in Bintulu", he said.

There was a substantial number of voters who voted for the BN in Kidurong and we must thank these voters for believing in the BN for a continued mandate but it was fated as such that we lost the seat, he said.

Tiong who is also the Bintulu BN Deputy Chairman said the BN was thankful that it had retained Kemena and Jepak state seats, as the number of voters who gave their undivided support was indeed exhilarating...END.

 
Picture: One of the clogging manholes at Bintulu Central Market where BDA will carry out its clean-up works soon.