Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) targets to make Kota Kinabalu the cleanest city and litter-free by 2025.

Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department, Arifin Asgali who is responsible for DBKK, said this was in line with the state government’s manifestation to make Sabah a clean, healthy and litter-free state as Sabah received many local and foreign tourists.

"The tourism industry is one of Sabah’s main economic sources. However, we face a big challenge in conserving and improving our assets that are tourist attractions as littering and indiscriminate dumping of garbage are still widespread such as at the beaches and hawking sites in this city.

"In a day, DBKK manages the disposal of 800 tonnes of garbage at the Kayu Madang landfill, of which 500 tonnes are generated in Kota Kinabalu. Dirty, disorderly and visually unattractive areas will surely adversely affect tourism, what more as Kota Kinabalu is the main gateway to Sabah.

"Therefore, it is important to raise the cleanliness level of this city,” he said when launching the ‘K Bersih’ (Clean KK) initiative in conjunction with the 'KK Moving Forward' programme which was also attended by Kota Kinabalu mayor, Datuk Nordin Siman, here, today.

Speaking to reporters, Arifin said the 'KK Bersih' initiative was a start to achieving a litter-free Kota Kinabalu with various activities planned to raise public awareness of the importance of having a clean city environment.

"What is important now is ensuring cleanliness of the environment a habit and not only as part of a programme so that we can practise clean and healthy living and this begins with ourselves," he added.

Meanwhile, DBKK director-general Noorliza Awang Alip said DBKK was drawing up a module through the ‘KK Bersih’ initiative which included encouraging upcycling and recycling of discarded items and looking at the waste disposal system in the village areas and fringes of this city.

She said it also focused on the waste disposal problem on waters and in squatter settlements around Kota Kinabalu with the cooperation of relevant government agencies and non-governmental organisations.