Both the Federal Government and Sarawak Government must take serious measures to ensure that there will not be any more further delays to the urgent the RM150 million Flood Mitigation Project that was supposed to be implemented in Kuching to address the flash floods issues plaguing many low-lying areas around Kuching which has caused so much inconvenience and property damage to the public including the flash floods that has happened recently in different parts of Kuching.
This issue was raised by me in Parliament to demand answers and clarification for the constant delay of the project and demanded for it to be prioritized. I also highlighted the multiple flash floods occurrence all around Kuching including the one at the Sarawak General Hospital(SGH) and many housing estates recently to show the urgency of the matter.
This RM 150 million project known as Pembangunan Lembangan Sungai Bersepadu (PLSB) Sungai Sarawak covers 9 project locations including the upgrading of drainage in 5 locations including Sarawak General Hospital(SGH), the Government Quarters at Jalan Tun Jugah, Batu Lintang area, SK Muara Tuang, Samarahan and also the drainage along Jln Kuching-Samarahan Expressway. Besides that, there will be projects to build flood barriers along Sg Gersik, Sg Sinjan and also dredging and deepening of Sungai Tengah and Sungai Minjab.
Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID), Sarawak which is a Sarawak Government Department and is given the authority to carry out the implementation and monitoring of the project.
Initially, the federal funding was released for this project at the end of 2018 after an initial review as announced by the then Minister YB Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
Then based on their briefing then process of project planning and also tendering and appointment of contractors should have been finalised by November 2019 and the detailed designing process including land acquisition and investigation was to be carried out from December 2019 to December 2020. The physical construction of the project was supposed to start in 2021 and is expected to take about 4 years.
However, the project was further delayed and based on the answer given in Parliament, DID only put forth the Sitting Application for land acquisition on the 29th December 2021 to the Land & Survey Department Sarawak. DID also discussed the acquisition of the Government Quarters with the Sarawak Federal Secretary Office on the 4th January 2022 dan had a meeting on the 21st January 2022 to discuss the acquisition of land in the other 9 locations for the project.
DID through the Sarawak Government has also put forth an appeal to the Land & Survey Department on the 10th January 2022 to expedite the “Sitting Application” due to the urgency of the project and also the the need to address the increasing occurrence of flash floods that has hit Kuching.
In December 2022, DID only got the approval from the State Planning Authority (SPA) for the 9 project locations. Currently all the projects has completed its detailed designing process and in the stage of tender document preparation.
Such steps were initially stated to be completed in the year 2020, but was delayed until now with physical construction only slated earliest in the start of 2024 and is expected to take up to 4 years to be completed.
I have expressed my dissatisfaction with the delay and urged them to ensure that there are no more delays and make additional steps to pressure the relevant government agencies to expedite the necessary approvals so that the tender can be called as soon and the physical construction can commence and be finished as soon as possible for the convenience of the public.
I will continue to monitor and push for the process to be expedited so that it will not cause too much inconvenience to the public. Such delay is unacceptable as it burdens the public and caused additional troubles especially during the monsoon season.
Although, even with this PLSB project itself, it may not solve all the flash flood issues in Kuching as more needs to be done by both the Federal and State Government including more flood mitigation projects along Sg Maong Kanan, and Sg Maong Kiri is still needed to holistically address this issue.