State Water Department director Edward Lingkapo (second from left) briefing Bung Moktar (third from left) and other officials during the visit to the water treatment plant.
KOTA KINABALU: To improve the clean water supply and water quality in Sabah, the State Government will need RM13 billion to implement improvement works, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
Bung Moktar who is also Works Minister, said the problem of clean water supply in the state is at a critical level as 23 water treatment plants throughout Sabah are in need of repairs or relocation.
He added that water intakes to some of the treatment plants also need to be relocated due to pollution.
“When the intakes were first built, the rivers were in good condition but after so many years, some of the rivers have become polluted because of human activities and hill clearing activities,” he said, adding that almost all of the 23 rivers where water treament plants are located, have some level of pollution.
To this end, Bung Moktar has instructed the Public Works Department director and his counterpart at the Water Department to present to him the case by case specifications to be tabled to the state government.
He said this after inspecting the water intake for the treatment plant in Batu Sapi Kinabatangan today.
He was briefed about the treatment plant and was informed that there were some leakages in the 37km water supply pipe from there to Kampung Paris.
As a result of this, villagers in Kampung Paris are unable to enjoy clean water supply, Bung Moktar lamented.
He also called on the directors of the two departments to source for allocation to repair leaking pipes, especially those that are in critical conditions.
“The repair work is estimated to cost about RM10 million and if we can get RM2 million now, we can repair the severely damaged pipes first while the rest can be done later,” he said adding that water pipes in Sabah were built since the British rule.
“We need to replace them urgently as we want people in Sabah to enjoy clean water. In fact 45 percent of the water pipes in Sabah are from the colonial era,” said Bung Moktar who disclosed that the old leaky pipes are costing the state government huge annual losses.