Finding underground water sources
Published on: Wednesday, August 21, 2019
KOTA KINABALU: The State Rural Development Ministry has signed a deal with the Mineral and Geoscience Department to identify underground water sources for villages in the rural areas.
Its Minister Ewon Benedick said the collaboration is important as the department has the expertise and technology in this area including the installation of underground tubes.
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He expressed hope that the collaboration would help resolve water problem in rural villages, particularly those under the Mesej and Kampung Sejahtera programmes.
“We have started the initial discussion today after which the department will conduct briefings to officers in the districts,” he said after receiving a courtesy call from department officials, Monday.
He said that according to the briefing by the department and based on their tube well projects previously, it would cost RM25,000 to RM160,000 to implement an underground tube well project.
“I personally have visited some of the villages and seen the problem they have been facing with water supply. Because of this, many of the villagers have no choice but to depend on rain water. We want to resolve this now with the help from the department,” he said.
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He admitted however that not all areas have underground water reservoirs that can be drawn.
In relation to this, Ewon hoped that such project could be implemented in as many rural villages in the state in line with the state government’s Key Performance Index for rural water supply by 2025.
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Meanwhile, the department’s acting director Paulus Godwin said the government has allocated RM2.3 million this year to implement the underground water source project in the state.
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He said among the villages involved this year are Kg Kulambai in Kota Belud, Kg Salimpodon Darat, Kg Pompodon and SMK Tandek in Kota Marudu and Kg Namaus in Ranau.
He added that studies are currently being carried out in four other villages namely Kg Gaur, Kg Nahaba and Kg Tuguson in Kota Belud and Kg Kalibungan, Pitas.