Yong, Abidin and Tengku Adlin lighting the candles with Joanna at the Tanjung Aru Beach 1.
KOTA KINABALU: Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir said that the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) is planning to replace streetlights in the state capital with LED streetlights to reduce usage of electricity.
According to him, City Hall has installed 360 LED lights along the bicycle and pedestrian track in Likas Bay, 76 along Jalan Pantai in the city and 30 units out of the city.
City Hall, he said, would also build 55 taxi and bus stands that will be using a solar energy PV off grid system in the city.
The mayor dislosed this during City Hall’s annual observation of Earth Hour at the Tanjung Aru Beach 1 on Saturday evening
“DBKK will install more LED lights in Kota Kinabalu city if we get 300 and more people to sign up for tonight’s Earth Night Walk,” he said.
Abidin added that City Hall encouraged all new developments in the state capital to adopt green technology and also ‘green technology buildings’ so that they too can play their role in reducing global warming.
Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister cum the minister in-charge of Kota Kinabalu City Hall, Datuk Ir Edward Yong Qui Fah, launched the Earth Hour 2014 programme by lighting the recycled candles.
He was accompanied by Abidin, Sabah Park Chairman cum WWF Sabah president Dato’ Seri Tengku Zainal Adlin Tengku Mahmood, deputy director general of Kota Kinabalu City Hall, Joannes Solidau and Miss Earth Sabah 2012 Joanna Marie Faurillo and thousands of participants.
Later, Joanna led a Night Walk procession to the adjacent Prince Philip Park, joined by 600 over volunteers from various education institutions.
In his speech, Yong called on Sabahans to play a more proactive role in reducing their greenhouse emission by being more prudent in their electricity usage.
He said simple energy saving practices such as choosing energy saving electrical appliances, using public transportation, recycling and reducing the amount of rubbish dumped at landfills as well as using environmentally friendly products can go a long way if applied diligently.
He pointed out that the one-hour ‘lights out’ for Earth Hour is in fact not enough to bring about a huge impact on the world’s climate which is why much more need to be done by everyone.
“We are now experiencing global warming and the world’s weather is unpredictable. This will leave an impact on the people and we are now seeing the negative effect of global warming, such as extreme weather which has resulted in natural disasters that have claimed many lives.
“It is therefore up to us to do more than what we do when observing Earth Hour by playing our role to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Use your power to make change a reality as the responsibility to protect the environment belongs to everyone, not only the government and global organizations.
“The rakyat play an equally important role to care for the prosperity of all living things and not only be concerned about their own welfare,” he stressed.
Yong pointed out that small acts like not doing open burning and using public transportation can help reduce global warming.
Entrepreneurs and manufacturers can contribute by using green technology and reducing wastage in their production, he said.
“The state government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman is very concerned about the environment, hence the priority towards preserving it,” he said.