SIBU: Good news for teachers and students of SMK Chung Hua here who have put up with the inconveniences of the second phase of Sibu Flood Mitigation projects at their door step.
Their nightmare may be over by the end of next month if all goes smoothly with the speed-up project work that has initially been delayed.
This good news came from the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) yesterday when its engineer Ting Sing Kwong said they were pushing the contractor to speed up the project completion.
“The contractor has been given an extension until Jan 24 next year; they have been coordinating with us and they are pushing themselves to complete it by end of November, about two months ahead of schedule.”
Ting said he understood the pains the students and teachers of the school had gone through; he said the school had been complaining of the inconveniences.
“Now, the school has stopped complaining because the contractor is moving into the touching-up phase.”
Ting said phase 2 of the work – from Chung Hua School to Ee Thei Road – started on May 18, 2012 and was supposed to be completed on Aug 15 of the same year.
“But, they were delayed by technical problems like the relocation of Sesco and Telecom cables, water pipes, land issue, illegal structures built on road reserve, construction of additional culverts to replace the old ones and providing access roads for the adjacent properties.”
He said the 1km stretch of bund being built at a cost of RM46.8mil was meant to raise the road level to block out flood waters. The package came complete with a pump station with four pumps, two water outlets, an additional culvert to replace the old one and the drains.
He said after the completion the contractor would do a test run and managed it for two years before handing over the facility to the DID.
“The same contractor has also been managing the first phase of the project that runs from Upper Lanang to Chung Hua School for two years. They are about to hand over the management to us now.”
Ting said the first phase of the flood mitigation project was working well and since its operation, Upper Lanang Road had never been flooded.
He said after the completion of the second phase, they would start with the third phase upon receipt of funds from the federal government.
“We have re-submitted the budget for the third phase a few months ago.”
Ting added that the remaining flood mitigation project would run from Ee Thei Road to the Sibu Central Business District, Tua Pek Kong Temple, Sibu Town Square, the villages, Sungei Antu, Sungei Merah, Seduan and the river bank near Giant Hypermarket.
“When completed, the whole of Sibu town will be protected by bunds that run parallel with the river.”