KUALA LUMPUR – Through the Public Works Department, the Works Ministry has promised to conduct pothole repairs within 24 hours of discovery, through its “Aku Janji Zero Potholes” campaign that was reintroduced last July.
The ministry said in a statement that the previous campaign that ran from 2016 to 2018 aimed to strengthen the ministry’s commitment towards maintaining the country’s roads.
“This is the ministry’s initiative, together with JKR and six concession holders for federal roads in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak, and Labuan.
“Under this campaign, temporary pothole repairs will be done within 24 hours of its discovery or complaints, and permanent repairs within three days as stated in the federal road maintenance contract,” it said.
The ministry defined pothole damage as holes with diameters of 200mm to 1,000mm.
“If the diameter of the pothole is under 200mm, the repair will not involve cutting, but the hole will be filled immediately. If the diameter of the hole reaches 1,000mm, it will require the road to be cut before the hole is filled.
“If the dimension of the hole exceeds 1,000mm, then it needs to be considered as pavement failure,” the statement said.
The ministry said it allocated RM1.09 billion for federal road maintenance throughout the country, including electricity, traffic lights, and street lamp bills for 2021.
“The government approved RM100 million in allocations for the implementation of ‘weight in motion’ at federal roads identified through the 2021 budget.
“The ministry will cooperate with the Transport Ministry to ensure that road surfaces are not easily damaged due to overloading of vehicles,” it said.
The ministry said it is also committed to ensure that every complaint received is resolved as soon as possible without regarding the complainant’s status, practicing the “No Wrong Door” policy.
“A total of 4,091 public infrastructure complaints were received by the ministry and the Public Works Department till November 30. From the total, 1,473 complaints were regarding damaged roads. All complaints have been processed and action has been taken.
“Almost 200,000 potholes were found and repaired through monitoring and Public Works Department patrols in 2019, while 64,000 potholes were recorded with action taken as of last June,” it said.
On December 27, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was reported to have been involved in an accident when the bicycle he rode crashed after its front tyre was caught in a pothole, resulting in injuries to his face after being thrown to the side of the road. – Bernama, December 30, 2020
