Sabah considering White Paper on water woes, state assembly told

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah may consider coming out with a White Paper on its water crisis, Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya told the state assembly.

“We can discuss it (White Paper) to detail issues and the plans,” the state Works Minister said when responding to a supplementary question by Datuk Darell Leiking (Warisan-Moyog).

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Leiking had suggested that the government do a White Paper as the current water supply problems affected many people.

Furthermore, he said there were concerns that old and corroded water pipes could pose health problems.

Shahelmey, however, said the state government was taking short-, mid- and long-term measures to resolve immediate needs and address future demand.

The measures include increasing water treatment capacity, changing old pipes, reducing leakages or non-revenue water (NRW), among other plans.

For the long term, the government planned to build the Ulu Padas and Papar Dams, which was originally opposed by some parties, he said.

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“We are conducting a feasibility study which is expected to be completed in October before we make a final decision,” he said on Thursday (Aug 10), as water supply problems continued to dominate the assembly sitting.

Earlier, Shahelmey said the recent water supply disruption at the Sabah Women and Children’s Hospital in Likas here was overcome with immediate action through the control of the switch valve in the area.

He said the action was to ensure equal supply and increase water pressure in the areas involved, especially the hospital.

“The problem of water supply disruption that often occurs in Sabah, especially the northern area of Kota Kinabalu, is due to the current demand for treated water which exceeds the capacity.

“The (shortfall) of supply to this area is as much as 29.2%,” he said, adding that the key water source for the hospital was through the Telibong Water Treatment Plant II Phase I.

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In addition, he said, phase two of the Telibong II plant upgrade project was expected to be completed in early September and will boost capacity by 20%.

Shahelmey said there was no need for the Sabah Water Department to buy tankers as such assets would not be used effectively once supply becomes stable.

He added that the department would send its existing tankers to affected areas in the event of critical supply disruption and, if it did not have enough vehicles, a private company would be appointed to deliver supply.

“However, there were some private parties that took the opportunity to make excessive profits (from the situation).

“They should only (deliver) water and the cost will be borne by the government,” he said in response to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang).