Call to step up enforcement of Second Hand Dealers Act 1946 to curb rampant stealing of public properties
ROAD HAZARD: Metal thefts are posing a
serious road hazard as the wheel of a motor vehicle can get stuck in a
manhole with a missing cover.
METAL thefts are
costing the local councils a bundle every year through widespread
stealing of public properties such as manhole and drain covers as well
as grilles for roadside pavements and office buildings.
Expressing concern over such
‘unnecessary’ losses, the four local councils have called for
enforcement of the Second Hand Dealers Act 1946 to be accelerated.
They said this would help prevent
unnecessary financial losses for the councils not only from thefts of
manhole and drain covers but also copper wires and housing materials.
Just last year, Kuching South City
Council (MBKS) suffered an estimated loss of RM220,000 to metal thefts
while Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) lost RM400,000, Sibu
Municipal Council (SMC), RM100,000, and Padawan Municipal Council (MPP),
RM350,000.
The losses used to be double, especially two years back when metal thefts left a big dent in the coffers of both MPP and SMC.
MPP reported the highest loss in 2010
when it spent RM900,000 on replacing missing manhole and drain covers as
well as grilles, its chairman Lo Khere Chiang revealed.
According to him, a 200kg heavy-duty
manhole cover on top of a culvert in the middle of the road costs about
RM800 while a 20kg backlane sewer manhole cover costs RM145.
While it is expensive for a local
council to purchase one of these covers, a ‘metal’ thief can sell it to
the scrap yard for a much cheaper price.
For instance, a new 20kg metal cover can
cost RM145 but may be sold second-hand for RM20, or at most RM24, as
the going price for scrap metal is RM1 to RM1.20 per kg.
Unnecessary losses
NOT SPARED: Drain covers are also targetted by ‘metal’ thieves.
Money lost to metal theft is something unnecessary and should not be happening.
Apart from putting an unnecessary strain
on their resources, metal theft also poses a nuisance to the daily
operations of the local councils.
No one notices a manhole or drain cover when it is there but everyone notices it when it is not there.
“We receive complaints about missing manhole covers every now and then.
“Once we know a manhole or drain cover
has been stolen, we have to replace it as soon as possible because a
hole in the middle of the road is dangerous to road users,” MBKS mayor
Datu James Chan said.
In tackling metal theft, some local
councils had experimented with wooden covers but discovered it was not a
good solution, especially for SMC.
“Furthermore, they were not very lasting as they tended to rot after getting soaked,” SMC deputy chairman Daniel Ngieng noted.
Enforcement will help scrap metal industry
The local councils have found a way to
counter rampant metal thefts with most of them having been resorting to
concrete covers since two years ago.
It is an effective counter-measure because concrete covers are heavy and lasting but have no resell value.
As a result, losses from metal thefts
have decreased tremendously over the past two years. Even so, replacing
metal covers with concrete ones is not totally problem-free.
The support of the covers has to be re-structured in order to fit the thicker concrete covers. And this takes time.
“So sometimes on busy streets where
immediate action is needed to replace missing manhole covers, we are
forced to use the metal type because they can be replaced much more
quickly.
“In certain areas, we cannot replace
them fast enough. As soon as one (metal cover) is replaced, it gets
stolen overnight,” Lo lamented.
The councils are now using a mixture of
concrete covers and metal covers. The latest version of the latter can
be locked or screwed to the ground.
Wooden covers are also used but only for a temporary purpose.
HUMAN NATURE: No one notices it when a manhole over is there but everyone notices it when it is not there.
COUNTER-MEASURES: Concrete sewer covers have been used to replace metal ones to prevent metal theft.
Manhole and drain covers now have to be screwed to the ground to prevent metal theft.
Enforcement of Act
The local councils have called for enforcement of the Second Hand Dealers Act 1946 to be stepped up.
“Definitely, enforcement will help. The
Act requires all those involved in second-hand goods business to keep
proper records of their dealings.
“The Act will also enable the police to
make surprise checks. The penalty will discourage people from dealing in
stolen goods,” DBKU mayor Datuk Abang Abdul Wahab said.
Meanwhile, Chan, who is confident the
state government will enforce the Act soon, said with enforcement, the
council could carry out spot checks together with the police at the
premises of second hand goods dealers.
He added that this would deter the
dealers from buying stolen items and also make it possible for the
council to reclaim some of its stolen manhole covers.
“Even manhole covers with MBKS logo have gone missing. And if we can do spot checks, we can reclaim some of them.”
Chan urged dealers of second-hand goods
to exercise their social responsibility by refusing to buy public
properties such as manhole and drain covers.
“With the co-operation of these dealers, thefts of such items can be effectively tackled,” he said.
Ngieng who proposed the drafting of a
law to regulate the buying and selling of recyclables during his tenure
as Bukit Assek state assemblyman in 2003 and as a backbencher from 2001
to 2006, said he would like to see the Act enforced soon.
“The purpose is not to stifle the scrap
metal industry. Instead, it helps the industry by regulating sales of
all second-hand goods, including plastic recyclable items which used to
be discarded as rubbish.
“The problem now is with the demand and
the resultant price hike, recyclable items continue go missing because
there are people stealing and selling them as second-hand goods,” Ngieng
noted.
