Friday 24 January 2014

Faulty escalators annoy tourists

Faulty escalators annoy tourists

Some of the faulty escalators and lifts at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building (SIB) and JB Sentral are still not fixed, leaving locals and tourists disgruntled.

The problem was highlighted in the media just before the start of Visit Malaysia Year 2014


Warning signs have been placed next to several descending escalators to inform the public that they are under maintenance.


Tourist Guides Council president Jimmy Leong Wie Kong said the only escalator leading to the waiting bay for coaches has out of order for at least three months.


He said tourists with heavy luggage, including the elderly and disabled, were forced to use the staircase.


Leong said this was giving first-time visitors a very bad impression.


He said most of the complaints received by his Johor Baru-based members in the past few month were about the faulty escalators.


Leong added that it was also causing a lot of inconvenience to locals commuting to work in Singapore daily.


"To complicate matters, the maintenance work is being carried out during the peak period. This is really an unwelcome gesture by our welcoming committee," he said.


"No matter what excuse they give, an escalator should not be out of order for months. And, even if it is shut down for maintenance, why do it during the peak period?" Leong said.


"The faulty escalators mean I have to walk. I find it a bit tough because I have arthritis," said Kursiah Othman, 61, who visits her grandchildren in Singapore quite often.


"I have spotted the same warning sign for more than a month but nothing seems to have been done," she said.


State tourism, domestic trade and consumerism committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong said they were waiting for the escalator parts from overseas.


"It will be fixed as soon as the escalator parts arrive," he said.


Tee does not know where the parts are coming from.


The Prime Minister Department's property management division safety officer Azali Bachok said the escalators and lifts at SIB and JB Sentral were maintained by two different contractors.


He said they had been notified of the problem.


"The escalators are in dire need of maintenance as they handle a large number of commuters daily. "We are sorry for the inconvenience," he said.


Azali could not say when the maintenance works would be completed.



The Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building is a major entry point into the country.

~News courtesy of New Straits Times~

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