BY IVAN LOH

Overgrown grass and bushes in an abandoned house in Taman Cempaka.

THERE are about 41,199 empty premises in housing estates and villages in Ipoh that need to be cleaned up.

As of Aug 17, these premises included abandoned houses and those that have been left without any maintenance by its owners.

The city council has received about 8,146 complaints about uncut grass and bushes at these premises and 2,111 notices have been sent out to the respective owners to clean up their properties.

Datuk Bandar Zamri Man said about 81% or 1,704 of the respective owners have responded to the notices by cleaning their premises while 186 lots have been cleaned up by the city council’s contractor.

Ipoh City Council workers cleaning up a house. -filepics

“The cleaning costs would be claimed through assessment tax collection, with an added 15% cleaning service charge.

“There are still 126 notices with no action taken by the respective owners,” he said

The state Health Department, together with the city council launched the “Ops X-Aedes Pecah Masuk Rumah Kosong” in Taman Cempaka in early August to clean the respective premises in its bid to curb dengue.

About 108 abandoned houses were identified at the residential area as in need of cleaning up.

The mailing address of about 30 premises were at the respective locations while 54 others were outside Ipoh and 24 in other housing areas within the city.

Zamri also said the city council was left to face this issue when the owners leave their premises lying empty.

“This complicates matters as the premises are filled with undergrowth and pose a danger to the public,” he said.

“We have recorded a total of 642 cases in the city,” he added.

Zamri said he hoped owners of empty lots, abandoned houses and those that needed cleaning up would take pro-active measures to address the problem.

“Dengue remains a threat and the owners must be responsible and take the necessary action,” he said.