MUKAH: A water piping grid (pipeline grid) will be created to tackle water supply problem in the state once and for all, said Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Haji Johari Tun Openg.
“Water supply problem has always been the issue for the people in the rural areas. We cannot wait any longer for this issue to be addressed once and for all,” he said.
He said this new approach would be costly, believed to cost billions of ringgit to create the grid.
“Through this new measure or one of the new approaches which I dub as ‘out of the box’ thinking, we would not depend on the conventional way of depending on rivers as the source of raw water. We have a number of lakes and dams to become the new sources of water supply.
The present water source from rivers would not be reliable because they could easily be polluted due to development taking place. For instance in Sungai Asap where the water supply is sourced from the river, it is said the water now is yellowish in colour.
With lakes or dams, we can strictly control them so that the water would always be safe and clean all the times,” said Abang Johari at a press conference held at Sri Mukah Rest House here, yesterday.
While identifying certain areas in the state as pilot site for the project, the Chief Minister pointed out that the matter had been discussed with ministers and now they had to come up with the master plan before implementing the project.
“The pilot project may be in areas like upper Rajang River where the lakes or dams are available, such as Bakun, Murum and Batang Ai. The raw water would come from nearest dam or lake for treatment. It is yet to be finalised when or where the project would start,” he said.
He foresaw the demand for clean water supply would increase drastically, especially with the development of the Tanjung Manis Halal Hub and other industrial areas in the state.
“I am sorry to say for now that Tanjung Manis don’t even have enough clean water to produce ice, what more to say other products that need water. With sufficient supply of clean water, we could also attract more investors, and who knows one day we could also export clean water when we have surplus supply,” said Abang Johari.
He said a similar approach would also be the answer to provide electricity to rural areas.
“This is yet to be discussed with ministers or the cabinet. The source would not be from the existing common source. I will reveal once the matter has been agreed upon. And to implement all these projects, including water piping grid would be costly. That is why we have to have our own bank, the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) and we also want the federal government to assist us here. In principle, the Prime Minister had given his consent for the state to its own bank,” he said.
Earlier, the Chief Minister officiated at the closing ceremony of Kaul Mukah 2017 at Taman Kala Dana.
Also present at the press confernce were Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah and Member of Parliament for Mukah Dato’ Sri Dr Muhammad Leo Toyad.
