Kota Kinabalu: The Sabah Government welcomes the Federal Government’s commitment to assist in resolving Sabah’s water supply issue as announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
He said the State Government itself is in the midst of implementing its own plan to address the water woes, and with the federal coming in to provide assistance, the State Government believes the problem can be resolved quickly.
The Chief Minister also clarified that the Prime Minister did not state that the Federal Government is going to take over the State’s water supply management.
“What the Prime Minister meant was that the Federal Government is going to assist in the management of the problem by providing more substantial funding similar to the Kelantan water issue.
“The Government viewed the water supply problem in Sabah seriously. We will iron out all the issues during the meeting with the Prime Minister in order to get a lasting solution,” he said in a statement, Tuesday.
On Monday, Anwar said the Federal Government will try to resolve the water supply problems in Kelantan and Sabah even though it involves a huge allocation and the issue needed to be addressed because it is a fundamental problem and not a political matter.
Anwar said he had negotiated the matter with Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor and Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, and informed the Sultan of Kelantan Sultan Muhammad V that the Federal Government has to take over the responsibility of solving the problems despite the huge expenditure.
Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya, when commenting on the Federal Government’s commitment, said the assistance provided by the Federal Government must not be misconstrued by the Opposition that the Sabah Government had given the Federal Government the authority to take over the management of water supply in the State.
“We welcome the offer from Prime Minister (Anwar) to help ease our water woes...we understand that to overcome the water supply issue in Sabah would require a huge allocation, so we need assistance in the form of a grant or a federal loan.
“This needs to be specified. Though we welcome the Federal Government’s assistance, we are not giving away the management of water supply to the Federal Government.
“There was no specific mention that the Federal Government will take over the management of water supply in Sabah,” said Shahelmey, who is also the State Works Minister, after attending the Pan Borneo Sabah Highway Project Aidilfitri celebrations, here, Tuesday.
