GEORGE TOWN, April 16 — The Penang state government has allocated almost RM2 million to both of its city councils to purchase equipment and carry out disinfection and cleaning work in public spaces such as markets, hawker complexes and public housing schemes, said state exco Jagdeep Singh Deo.

The Penang lawmaker said the state has allocated a total of RM10 million to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) that included disinfection and cleaning equipment.

“About RM1.945 million from the total sum has been allocated for both city councils to purchase PPE, cleaning equipment and conduct regular cleaning works at public spaces such as markets and hawker complexes,” he said during a visit to Jelutong Market today.

The housing, local government and town and country planning committee chairman said there are a total of 56 markets and 79 hawker complexes in the state and so far, RM70,000 has been spent on cleaning 26 markets on the island.

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He said both the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) and Seberang Perai City Council (MBSP) have ensured frequently touched spots such as hand railings, door knobs and counters are cleaned every hour.

“As demonstrated earlier, the city council will use a scrubber machine to clean the floor of the market at the end of the business hour, at around noon,” he said.

The state has also spent about RM142,000 each month for cleaning work in public housing schemes in the state.

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“We have 28 high-rise public housing schemes with a total 12,487 units in the state and the housing department has 120 workers who conduct regular cleaning of the public facilities in these schemes,” he said.

Additionally, he said Penang has a total 1,855 private stratified housing schemes consisting of 301,188 units.

“This means we have about 1.2 million Penangites living on high-rises in the state, which is more than half the population of Penang so we cannot compromise on the cleanliness of these places,” he said.

He said all joint management bodies (JMB) and management corporations (MC) of these residential high rise buildings have been instructed to conduct regular cleaning of public facilities such as the lifts and lobby areas.

“I have ordered both city councils to monitor all of these stratified housing schemes to ensure that they adhere to the instruction to maintain the cleanliness of their public facilities,” he said.

He said the city councils are committed to keeping public facilities and spaces clean to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) disease.