Published on: Friday, December 07, 2007 |
Penampang: A Closed Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) and monitoring system will be installed soon at the Babagon Dam site, to assuage public fears of anything untoward happening at the site.
"We will install the system not only for security purpose but to monitor the dam," said Corporate Dynamic General Manager Julian Liew, Thursday.
He was asked to comment on one million cubic metres of water escaping the dam and causing the Sungai Moyog's water level to rise to one metre Thursday afternoon, causing panic among the villagers staying along the river.
Liew said the problem started when a power supply interruption occurred around 1pm, causing the computerised programming system controlling the "still way gate" to be defective.
As a result of the malfunction, the computer programming lost its communication with the system at the still way gate, resulting in the gate's uncontrolled lower slide and water spilling over the gate.
"We managed to rectify the problem within 40 minute," he said.
Liew reiterated it was a very rare incident which had never happened before. Police and Fire and Rescue Services Department (Bomba) were at the dam when they heard rumours of water overflowing the dam.
Opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has urged the authorities to allow independent civil organisations to visit and inspect the Babagon Dam to assure the public of the dam's safety.
"We cannot sit idle É especially with hundreds of villages surrounding it," said Kanul Gindol, the political secretary of PKR Vice President Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan in statement, Thursday.
He said that with dams being strictly prohibited areas, any information on the dam's safety was confined to only the authorities concerned. Hence the public may not know the true extent of its conditions.
