CLOSE MONITORING: (From left) Manyin with Uggah and Riot during the site visit.
TEBEDU: The whole of Serian parliamentary constituency is expected to enjoy clean pipe-water by the end of this year, or early next year at the latest.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas said this would be achieved with the completion of the Slabi water treatment plant, which has a capacity of 50MLD (mililitres daily).
“The project is now about 10 per cent completed, and although there has been some delay in
the early stage of the implementation, the Public Works Department has given an assurance that the project will be completed on schedule.
“Once the new water treatment plant is completed, the whole of Serian constituency will be supplied with clean water, although about 40 areas will be getting their supply through gravity feed.”
Uggah said currently two rural water supply projects were being implemented in Serian and Tebedu, costing RM205 million.
When completed, this would benefit about 5,000 households in Serian, he told reporters when visiting one of the project sites yesterday.
He said the projects were progressing smoothly, and the contractors were working
hard to ensure that the water treatment plant in Serian would be ready by this November, and the Tebedu water project by January 2013.
He said the Slabi water treatment plant, costing about RM116.5 million, was among the projects announced by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his walkabout in Sarawak prior to the 2011 state election.
Also present to accompany Uggah yesterday were Deputy Foreign Minister and Serian MP Datuk Richard Riot Jaem, and Infrastructure Development and Communication Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong.
Meanwhile, Uggah said of the total 312 projects, costing RM2.213 billion, approved by the prime minister for the state, 78 per cent had already been implemented, while the rest were either in the process or expected to start soon.
These projects are under the National Key Result Area (NKRA) announced by Najib two years ago.
He said the implementation of the projects had proven that the BN government did not make empty promises to the rakyat.
“We deliver what we promised. We don’t make empty promises. We walk the talk.”
Uggah, who is responsible for monitoring the projects, said another 28 per cent of the projects were being evaluated and in the process of being tendered out, adding that these would be implemented in the second-round plan of the Tenth Malaysia Plan.
He said the government would continue to monitor all projects it had announced to ensure its proper implementation.
On the oil spill in Sungai Liku in Miri, Uggah said he was still waiting for the full report from the Miri Department of Environment.