PADAWAN: Parking woes at the Rajah Charles Brooke Memorial (RCBM) Hospital here will soon be a thing of the past when a new parking is completed next month.
Work on the parking began today and is expected to be completed in the next two to three weeks.
Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang said at least 30 to 50 car park spaces would be built at the site located across the hospital.
“This hospital is a small hospital catering to hundreds of patients daily.
“At the moment, the lack of parking spaces as well as people parking at the roadside have caused many minor accidents. I was made aware of the accidents by the doctors.
“Thanks to the Public Works Department (PWD), prompt attention and action has been taken on the issue,” Lo said after handing over the project to PWD today.
He said indiscriminate parking, lack of parking spaces and unregulated traffic flow had caused traffic congestion in the area.
Once completed, the undulating parking lot will have proper entry and exit points.
On the cost of the project, he claimed he was not in the know as it was a government project fully implemented by the PWD.
“If we are to get a private contractor to carry out the project, it would probably cost around RM200,000.
“However, this is done by the PWD, using its own labour, so I won’t know the exact amount,” he said.
On the possibility of a pedestrian bridge in the area, Lo said there is no plans for one but the PWD is considering putting warning signs to tell road users to slow down.
Traffic lights might help the pedestrians to cross the road from the new parking lot to RCBM hospital, however, it will still be dangerous.
“My concern is that sometimes people don’t obey the traffic lights.
“Pedestrians would assume the car is slowing down but it is not. We are looking into that, to place a traffic light system but there are legal processes to go through,” said Lo, who is the Padawan Municipal Council chairman.
