Lingkapo (right) and Bung Moktar speaking to some of the residents.
KOTA KINABALU: The State Water Department will be looking at water rationing for areas receiving their supply from the Telibong water treatment plant.
This is to ensure that all the areas receive adequate water supply, especially in the coming Ramadan (fasting month), said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
Speaking to reporters after visiting Universiti Apartment 1 in Sulaman on Sunday, Bung Moktar who is also Works Minister, said he wanted to get to the root of the water supply disruption problem faced by the residents there.
Bung Moktar who was accompanied by State Water Department director Edward Lingkapo and his officers, said there are about 5,000 residents in the residential area and they have been living with the problem of not having a steady water supply to their residences.
“If the water supply comes, it is at the most one to two hours only and the residents are suffering because of this. I have discussed with the state’s water administrators to find out ways to resolve this problem.
“I cannot guarantee that that we can fully resolve the problem because we have an issue with the construction of the Telibong II water treatment plant which is now scheduled to be completed in 2023,” said Bung Moktar.
According to him, the water supply to Universiti Apartment 1 comes from Tuaran which also needs to supply water to consumers there.
“If we focus the supply to this area, there will be no water for Tuaran and vice versa. So I have asked the Water Department director to discuss with the Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran District Engineers to plan out a water rationing program for the affected areas.
“We want to ensure that the consumers get an adequate water supply, especially during the coming Ramadan,” he stressed.
Bung Moktar also pointed out that there are water tanks in Universiti Apartment 1 and at full capacity, it can store 160,000 litres per day.
“The issue now is to ensure the consistent supply of storage so hopefully the management here can increase the storage capacity,” said Lingkapo.
Meanwhile, Lingkapo told reporters that the water supply problem in the area is expected to be resolved when the Telibong II is completed and operational.
The construction of the RM300 million water treatment plant, he lamented is way behind schedule as the contractor cited the Movement Control Order (MCO) as a reason for the delay.
“It is only about 30 per cent done. The progress is slow and actually behind schedule because it is supposed to more than 50 per cent completed. We are looking at enhancing the contractor and getting to the bottom of the problem because this is very serious to us as the project is now a ‘sakit’ project,” he lamented.
Lingkapo disclosed that because of the rapid developement in Kota Kinabalu in the past 10 years, the area is experiencing 30 per cent loss of water supply.
Bung Moktar when asked for other alternatives, said the state government is looking at ensuring adequate water supply in the future. Building reservoirs is one of the options.
Lingkapo explained that the Kota Kinabalu Water Supply Phase 3 or Papar dam is in fact a reservoir which will be used to store water during the rainy season and supply it during the dry season.
“The best way is like Segaliud in Sandakan, we are looking for land, 100,000 hectares, to build a water retention pond as the supply can last long. But the cost is at least RM500 million, including land acquisition. Kota Kinabalu needs one, maybe one in Tawau and they can share the water with nearby districts,” Bung Moktar added.
A resident of Universiti Apartment 1, Baizurah Basri, said they had been facing the water supply problem since five years ago but it got worse before Chinese New Year this year.
Baizurah said that in the past they would be without water at least one a day a week which the residents did not think was too serious a problem.
“But in February the problem became so bad that our taps were dry up to five days a week. And when the water supply came, it was only for about two hours. We buy the water from water tankers but the management can only supply so much and it is 30 times more expensive,” she said.
Baizurah added that residents who were at home when the water supply came in the evenings were the lucky ones as they managed to stock up but those who work late had to make do without water at all.
According to her, some of the residents there are nurses and other frontliners so they are usually not home when the water supply comes, meaning they will have do without it.
“We hope that the supply will be resumed to a reasonable level, until Telibong II plant is up and running. We are okay with the rationing as long as the supply is reasonable, not only two hours a day because we need to see the bigger picture here and that 5,000 people are suffering because they do not have clean water,” she stressed.
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