KOTA KINABALU – Young pupils are risking life and limb to get to school in Keningau after an important bridge connecting the main road to their residences collapsed on November 10 and proper alternative links for travel have yet to be put in place.
Video clips and pictures of children accompanied by their parents going to school under hazardous conditions have gone viral since yesterday as schools reopened for many students.
The likelihood of an accident happening caught the attention of Keningau police who uploaded the clips on Facebook.
In the posting, parents are urged to be careful and accompany their children when crossing a precariously narrow makeshift footbridge formed from what appears to be a long iron beam.
On November 10, Sabah Public Works Department (PWD) director Ali Ahmad Hamid said that the Tambunan-Keningau bridge crossing located in Kg Liau had collapsed due to a landslide.
The incident, which occured on the night of November 9, was caused by the failure of the sewage pipes (PVC culvert pipes) underneath the bridge.
Jalan Ranggom Kepayan-Magatang has been proposed as the alternative route, but local residents are still using the bridge route as the makeshift bridge has been laid.
The reconstruction of the main bridge now awaits funding from the federal government, according to the state Assistant Public Works Minister Datuk Robert Tawik.
A Keningau resident contacted by The Vibes noted that the use of plastic culvert pipes, which are soft, had caused the bridge to collapse.
“We noticed this when contractors installed the PVC culvert pipes,” he said.
“I didn’t think the pipes were able to withstand the weight of the soil for long, and true enough, the whole thing had flattened when the landslide occurred,” said the man who requested anonymity.
Keningau district executive officer Mohd Fawzi Abdul Kadir said the local government views this matter seriously and that actions on repairing the bridge are ongoing.
He noted that repair works are being done by the PWD at present. – The Vibes, November 23, 2021
