Milau Dam may end up as ‘white elephant’ — DAP

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah DAP has charged that the Milau Dam near Sikuati in Kudat which will be completed soon may end up as a ‘white elephant’.

NO WATER SOURCE: Hiew (second right) and other DAP leaders contend the Maliau Dam may end up as a ‘white elephant’ project.

Its chief Dr Hiew King Cheu said their concern was based on the fact that without a viable water source the dam must depend on a rare downpour to fill up and this would be too optimistic, considering that Kudat is known to be the driest place in Sabah.

He said recently he led a team from the party to carry out an inspection on the project site after receiving complaints from some concerned local residents who doubted the feasibility of the said project.

Hiew said he was told that the project was first proposed some 15 years ago but never got off the ground due to strong objections and criticisms from the people there who said there was no water source in the vicinity.

Nevertheless, the project started on Aug 1, 2005 and was supposed to be completed by the contractor on Jan 31, 2008 but extensions were granted and it is now estimated to be 99 per cent completed.

Under the project, the dam is  supposed  to   supply    water to the water treatment plant located a few kilometers away next to a small stream.

A new pipe line was also constructed to connect the treatment plant to the existing pipeline from Kota Marudu to Kudat to alleviate the perennial water shortage in Kudat district.

“What is the use of the dam when there is no water source? Just depending on rain will not be sufficient to supply the whole of Kudat district. This could well end up as another ‘white elephant’ project by the Barisan Nasional government,” Hiew said in a statement.

Hiew, who is also Kota Kinabalu member of parliament, said the dam was a glaring example of gross wastage of public funds.

He asked how the BN government could allow such a wasteful project to go ahead and at the same time claim that it was cutting subsidies to the people to save money.

As if this embarrassment was not enough, Hiew also claimed that the compensation payments for the land acquisition to the affected villagers had not been fully disbursed by the state government.

“We received many complaints during the visit. It is understood that the village folks received only about 75 per cent of the compensation,” he said.

“Why can’t the state government settle the compensation payments quickly?” he asked, adding that it was well known that the people in the district are among the most deprived in the state.