Penampang flood mitigation work to start this year
Published on: Friday, March 27, 2015
Penampang: The first of four schemes of the Penampang flood mitigation plan has been opened for tenders, with the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) expecting work to begin anytime this year. District engineer Jeffrey Ng said the tender will be closed on March 30 as the site identification to construct a 900-metre "diversion" to mitigate the flooding in Sungai Kibabaig has been scheduled for May. "The tender was opened on March 3," he told a group of grassroots leaders who attended the Lecture and Exhibition in conjunction with World Water Day, here, Wednesday.
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The Flood Mitigation Plan is divided into four schemes involving Sungai Kibabaig in the first scheme, upgrading works on Sungai Petagas, Sungai Putatan and Sungai Moyog in the second, with the third and fourth schemes involving Federal funding. The rivers are part of the Moyog flood basin, which has seen its allocation approved late last year, following a major flooding in Penampang, which stretched to two other districts, namely the city and Putatan. Based on studies conducted by DID, the flood basin measures 66 square km, with 35.8 square km identified as flood-prone areas, potentially affecting 150,000 people in all three districts. According to Ng, the first scheme will see the construction of a 900-metre diversion, stretching from Kampung Kibabaig to the Penampang Sports Complex and connected to a monsoon drain built between the fire and police stations.
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"We will also build a gate to mitigate any tidal effect in the instance of heavy rain and the water will be treated by the Water Department contractor," he said. Requests for the Flood Mitigation Plan have been made for many years which Ng said started at the time when "Tan Sri Bernard Dompok was still a Federal Minister" but the allocation was approved only after the 2014 flooding.
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The delay was largely caused by the late approval by the DID consultants, he said. The initiation of the first scheme, Ng explained, came about following the visit of the DID Director-General to the Moyog Flood Basin and the Sungai Kibabaig, accompanied by several officials from the Economic Planning Unit. The funds immediately got the nod, with the Director-General sourcing the funding from all DID state offices nationwide. In a related development, Ng noted that a river aligning project will be carried out in Sungai Sugud, measuring 3.7km and crossing over 54 pieces of private land under State government funding. As such, he hoped villagers would provide their support to the execution of the project. The DID has decided "planning measures" to address the Penampang flooding problems that focus on managing the floods involving methods like discouraging unplanned developments in fragile areas of the district. Ng said such measures as opposed to "structure and contingency measures" is best as it will boost real estate prices and will be much cheaper to execute. Structure measures involve the construction of flood mitigation structures and will cost the government millions of ringgit. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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