Centralised Sewerage System (Phase 1) ready by October

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SHAPING UP NICELY: Work on the Kuching City Centralised Sewerage System (KCCSS) Zone 1 Package 1 project, as seen near some shopping complexes at the city’s golden triangle yesterday, is progressing well.

KUCHING: Traffic in the city will be smoother by October as Kuching City Centralised Sewerage System (KCCSS) Zone 1 Package 1 project will be completed by then.

Upon completion, the project will ensure that both black and grey discharge from households will be cleaned to prevent the Sarawak River from further pollution.

Black water discharge refers to waste water from septic tanks, while grey ones refer to waste water from kitchens, bathrooms and washing areas.

As at today, the RM530 million-project, which is undertaken by Kumpulan-Nishimatsu-Hock Seng Lee Consortium, is 67 per cent completed.

However, it is behind schedule by 3 per cent due to challenges posed by underground water
and rock formations deep below the city.

Director of the state’s Sewerage Services Department, Lau Hieng Ung, said his department had urged the contractor to put in extra efforts over the next three months to make up for lost time.

“We have urged the contractor to expedite the project because we don’t want it to be delayed.

“But, at the same time, the slower progress was also a blessing in disguise as they tried to avoid affecting structures of building lying deep underground,” Lau told thesundaypost here yesterday.

He added that once the bigger manholes were completed, they would dig the smaller ones.

Lau said the massive work involved in boring underground tunnels and digging manholes were the main components of the ongoing project.

The boring aspect involved working underground at a depth of between six metres and 27 metres (at the intake point where waste treatment will be treated at the wastewater treatment plant) over a labyrinth spanning a total of 64.1km.

As such, he urged the public, especially motorists, to continue to be patient.

“We understand how everyone feels, but, on our part we will try our level best to complete the project on time.”

On the RM100 million wastewater treatment plant located near Zecon Toll Plaza, Lau said it was about 99 per cent completed at present. It will treat both black and grey water to standard A, which would then be released to the Sarawak River.

“It is hoped that after the Phase I project is completed, many ‘environmentally dead’ rivers like Sg Padungan and Sg Bintangor would be rehabilitated, and would be able to support marine life in the near future.”

He said the whole project would be able to cater for a 100,000 population equivalent (PE), and is designed to last until 2030.

“Under Phase I, only densely populated area of Kuching city is covered, from Satok, Wisma Saberkas, and right up to Padungan. It will include housing areas, commercial centres and hotels.”

Explaining the key rationale for the project, Lau said although the city’s black water was at present partially treated in septic tanks, its grey water was discharged directly into drains without any treatment.

“In fact, our grey water is more harmful to the rivers than the black water.”

He explained that the conventional septic tanks only partially treats black water from the toilets as it primarily serves as a sedimentary tank. The treatment removes only about 40 per cent of the pollutants.

“It does not remove any nutrients or bacteria which are commonly found in the back water.”

Lau said if the KCCSS were not undertaken now, Sarawak River would be environmentally dead by 2020. He said once Phase I were completed, the project would be extended to include other parts of the city.

“We must protect our water resources against pollution. Our rivers must not be polluted because they are our precious source of our drinking water. Rivers are also places for recreation.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman from Kumpulan-Nishimatsu-Hock Seng Lee Consortium said the massive project was using a Japanese technology which is widely used in Singapore.

He disclosed that each Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) cost between RM5 million and RM10 million per unit, depending on the size. Currently 12 TMB are being used for the project.

“This extensive underground sewerage network is the first of its kind in Malaysia. In short, Sarawak has leapfrog from the septic tank system to the state-of-the-art sewerage technology.

“For this, our people should be proud of what the State government is implementing now as it will definitely improve the quality of our environment, especially to the Sarawak River.”