Flash flood in Kuching

suppadmin | July 29, 2020

Councillor Kho Teck Wan urged the people not to throw rubbish into drains as they cause flash flood. She was also upset that many used face masks were seen all over with no consideration to the health of the others.

Kho who is also SUPP Central Woman’s Chief said flash floods are also caused by disclosed blocked scupper drains and covering up of drains in residential areas and a meeting has been held between MBKS mayor Datuk Wee Hong Seng, council department heads, steering committee members and DID personnel to solve the problem.

These, she highlighted, were issues which can be solved by Kuching South City Council (MBKS) once the causes are identified.

“However, there are bigger flood issues Kuching is facing and that can only be solved by improving the existing drainage infrastructure. As an initiative to control floods and better manage the irrigation system in Kuching City, Sarawak Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) had proposed the Projek Pembangunan Lembangan Sungai Bersepadu (PLSB) Sungai Sarawak (Sg Sarawak integrated River Basin project) with a cost of RM150 million in year 2018.The project however was put under review by the federal government after the 14th General Election (GE14). It was only given the green light to proceed after more than a year,” she added.

Kho revealed that there are nine sub-projects under the PLSB Sg Sarawak, namely proposed flood mitigation works for Sarawak General Hospital, Jalan Batu Lintang, Federal Quarters, Sg Tabuan, Sg Gersik, Sg Sinjan, Taman Malihah, SK Muara Tuang and Taman Uni Garden.

“The project originally to be implemented under a design-and-build concept has to start from scratch. The tender for consultancy services for detailed design was called for in July 2019, while the consultant was only appointed on February 28 this year.

“Due to all these issues, the physical implementation of some flood mitigation projects are expected to commence only in year 2021. In the meantime MBKS and DID will continue to do the quick fixes to solve flash flood issues in Kuching city,” she gave assurance.