Landslip threat in Kimanis real: Dept

Keningau: The Public Works Department will check on complaints that landowners along the Jalan Kimanis from Mile 4 to Mile 25 here are developing their property into resorts and orchards.Its Director, Amrullah Kamal, said there were complaints that the development of the lands along the roadside were among factors that contributed to the landslides.

He said it is the people who will eventually bear the cost of such "development" when the government repairs the road damaged by the landslides.

"So, I have instructed my staff to inspect whether this is true or not," he said.

He said the situation is quite rampant in Ulu Sungai Pampang and Ulu Sungai Bariawa.

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The situation is similar near the water plant at Kg Keningau and Ulu Agudon. The land there were cleared and levelled to facilitate for projects and also a project by the Rural Development Corporation (KPD).

In 2008, at Mile 10, a road stretch there was severely damaged by a landslide where a driver died when his car plunged down the steep hill.

The cost to repair it was RM40 million.

Due to active land clearing activities there, it is feared that similar landslide would occur near the water plant at Kg Agudon.

A water plant at Sungai Liawan that was built in the 1960s was the first plant in Keningau.

Due to active land clearing along the river to build settlements, the water is not as pristine as before.

A spokesman said the KPD project at Mile 4 was given the nod to clear some 20 acres of land that include for the construction of a resort and a palm oil plantation.

If this is true, residents in Keningau will be facing a serious problem in that whenever it rains, excess pesticide may seep into the Sungai Liawan and Sungai Pampang.

As to the resort being planned on the hill side, who can guarantee that there will be no landslides there in the future?

Have any experts made any study on the project?

The projects should take into consideration the safety and wellbeing of the people.

A road that includes the 45km stretch from Beaufort junction to Keningau was built in July 1999 and was completed in 2003 at a cost of RM275 million.

It was believed that the road was a "design and build" project where the contractor may not have given much consideration to safety aspects.

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Every year, fatalities involving vehicles would occur there.

It is hoped that the government will take note of the road and take fast action to rectify it.

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