KUCHING: An official body within the state government must be set up to monitor activities around inland water bodies such as the Bakun Reservoir to prevent water squatters and pollution.
Land Development Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing said this is in view of the great potential of Bakun Reservoir becoming a tourism revenue earner.
The Bakun Reservoir or Bakun Lake, about the size of Singapore, is not only a water body of great scenery but has the distinctive feature of ‘jelatong’, a term used to refer to a floating jetty to keep outboard engines and longboats but now means ‘floating houses’ as a resting place and even homestay.
The main issue posed by the setting up of jelatongs is that they might pollute the water body as these floating houses have no proper sanitary discharge system.
“Due to tourism potentials on Bakun reservoir, there are a lot of jelatongs on the lake. If we do not monitor or coordinate them properly, they will create water squatters and later, pollution in the lake.
“There must be a body that looks after the lake, not only in Bakun (Reservoir) but all inland lakes created by hydro-electric power (HEP) dams such as Batang Ai HEP, Murum HEP and eventually Baleh HEP,” Masing told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He stressed that this body must report to a minister so that when there is a problem, it can be brought up to the state cabinet by the minister.
“In terms of the Bakun Reservoir, the body must be made up by people who understand lake environment and who know what is going on, not retired politicians or government officers.
“The rights to build jelatongs and the rights to explore the lake must be given to the people of Sg Asap. They are the ones who own the lake because underneath the water lies their land which used to be theirs.
“And the Sg Asap people must be the one to decide who can come in to build jelatongs to prevent outsiders with money from reaping the benefits offered by the lake. The Sg Asap people must be the ones benefitting from it. The only way to do so is to make sure this is to have an authority to handle it,” said Masing.
Meanwhile, chairman of Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) Dr Murni Suhaili said SRB’s latest survey in March this year showed that there were 49 jelatongs on Bakun Reservoir and almost all were operating as homestay.
“When we talk about jelatongs, we are talking about floating houses, not jetties or small huts,” said the Daro state assemblyman.
He said the number of jelatongs peaked in 2013 when there were more than 200 of them but the number has greatly reduced as most jelatong owners had moved inland and abandoned their floating quarters on Bakun Reservoir.
“There is a standard design or requirement that these jelatong owners must follow. The design has already been endorsed by the Medical Department, in terms of sanitary standard, and Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), in terms of river pollution.
“Presently, these 49 jelatongs are all safe to stay in though not all of them meet the requirements. But we have introduced to them the standard design and we have given them time to do it. Anyone intending to set up jelatong will need to seek our approval,” said Murni.