Chan, Phoong and Tan meeting Kitingan and Drainage and Irrigation Department officers.
KOTA KINABALU: Irrigation and drainage in Sabah are under the purview of the minister in charge of food and agriculture.
In other states drainage is normally under the purview of the state minister or exco in-charge of infrastructure development.
This also means that flash floods in the town or city area (nothing to do with agriculture) would similarly end up as a matter on the desk of Dr Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister who also holds the portfolio of Food and Agriculture in the Sabah Cabinet.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) elected representatives representing Kota Kinabalu parliamentary constituency, Luyang state constituency and Likas state constituency – Chan Foong Hin, Phoong Jin Zhe and Tan Lee Fatt respectively, took part in a flood mitigation briefing on September 6.
Deputy director of the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Sabah, Ir Siraja Bashora, and senior district engineer for Kota Kinabalu-Penampang, Ir Irene Choo, explained to them the intricacies and difficulties faced by the DID in their task to mitigate flood in the greater Kota Kinabalu area.
“There are different agencies that are responsible for the maintenance of different drains and culverts – 1.
small drains – local government (i.e. DBKK, MDPg, etc); 2. roadside drains – Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR); 3. big drain – DID. Therefore, to resolve the issue of flooding, we will have to go down to the root cause, i.e.
whether there is a deficiency in maintenance (i.e. clogged drains), or is it a matter of overcapacity (i.e. the drains are too small),” said Chan, Phoong and Tan in a statement on Tuesday.
After the briefing and discussion session, Phoong and Tan would continue to play the role of opposition, check and balance against the current state administrative.
“We would monitor item 1 and 2, where flash floods were caused mostly due to under-maintenance of the drains, and also debris and rubbish accumulation in these drains. A lot of such debris came from construction sites such as housing construction sites and infrastructure construction sites, including the Pan Borneo Highway.
“On the other hand, DAP MP Chan Foong Hin would continue to raise in parliament the issue of lack of funding for more large-scale flood mitigation projects, especially to demand that the parts yet to be approved under the Kota Kinabalu Drainage Masterplan to be included in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
Chan noted that even the first phase of Basin 12 flood mitigation plan, Lido Flood Mitigation Plan, has been dragged for years before construction actually started, and the same dragging may happen for the RM850 million Likas Barrage Project proposed by the Sabah DID.
The MP said he will continue to exert pressure in parliament so that the Likas Barrage Project would see the light of the day and be approved as soon as possible.
“All these are parts and parcel of the whole issue regarding the constant flash floods in Kota Kinabalu.
Without regular cleaning at small drains, even big projects can’t save the world. In fact, the biggest contributor to the flash floods is the rapid urbanisation without proper monitoring,” he said.
He added local governments should be more alert in this aspect when making decision in approving any new housing development or infrastructure development.
“All the above (lack of funding, etc) would also mean that in the meantime, the Sabah Government has to take short-term solution to alleviate the floods. It is worth considering to dredge more water detention ponds whilst waiting for the approval for the Likas Barrage Project, among other flood mitigation projects.
“Even though the land acquisition process may take some time, it is certainly faster than to hope for the Federal Government’s allocation,” he said.
“The State has huge land banks and it is worth converting some of these lands into water retention ponds instead of thinking of more commercial developments. The Sabah Government cannot just push all the duties and blames onto federal as the state government has its own responsibilities as well, ” he added.