Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Independent Candidate Alliance member Sim Sie Hong
(pic) proposed several flood mitigation solutions for the city and Penampang areas in view of its constant flood issues. He said as populations grow development in the city become unavoidable.
“We have to open up more land, more buildings, more roads and more development which means there will be less permeable ground and surface water runoff especially during heavy rain.
“The existing drainage system are unable to cater for the sudden large quantity of rainwater during a storm and therefore cause flash floods,” he said.
To solve this problem, he said an investigation must be carried out in detail by professionals in flood prone areas.
He further said the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) might have already done the report and so the next step is to get enough funding for its implementation.
According to Sim, the investigation in 2007 to 2009 while they were preparing for the city structure plan 2030 and the KK Local Plan 2020, five major locations for flood gate and drainage basin were identified for potential flood prone areas of Manggatal, Telipok, Luyang, Deh yeh area, Lido and Donggonggon.
“These five locations are Inanam-Darau River mouth, Likas where its flood gate and pump station must be upgraded, Sembulan River mouth, Petagas River and the Putatan River mouth,” he said.
For the funding part, he said back in 2012, their company was requested by Upen to carry out a study on the possible flood gate and boat lock for Sembulan River to solve part of the flooding problem in Kota Kinabalu.
“A report and proposal was submitted to Upen for comment and approval but no action was taken,” Sim said.
“There’s no point pointing fingers but more importantly the Minister in charge and assemblyman must work together to acknowledge the problem and try to solve the flooding issue,” he said.
Other flooding factors are related to tidal conditions whereby the city being a coastal city, all the rain water would be discharged to the sea.
“So, if there is a storm coupled with high tide at sea, the storm water is unable to be discharged fast enough and thus cause flooding upstream,” Sim said.
He said Lido, Dah Yeh, Luyang and Donggonggong are the best example of flood prone areas where the town was built in a basin surrounded by hills and mountains.
He hoped that the next State government would listen to suggestions from professionals and resolve the problem once and for all.
If funding is not available from the Federal or State government, he said there are many other avenues and business models where the government can explore to achieve the best outcome for the people.
“That is why we will need more professional people who understand technical issues to represent the people as a true Wakil Rakyat,” he said.
