STATE authorities, through the Greater Kota Kinabalu Flood Prevention Committee, have implemented three strategies to resolve the flood problem in the state capital.
According to Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Edward Khoo, the strategies are for the short term, medium term and long term.
The short-term strategy involved drain cleaning works by City Hall, Penampang and Putatan District Councils in areas under their jurisdiction and that of their appointed contractors.
Khoo when replying to Luyang assemblywoman Melanie Chia, said based on the report of the third meeting which was held on March 15, all drain cleaning works in the city had been completed while the Penampang as well as Putatan District Councils had given their commitment to complete the work by the end of April.
“The relevant authorities will also list out the cost for repairing all drains as part of the drainage upgrading works that will be carried out under the medium -term strategy,” he added.
Melanie had asked for City Hall and the State Drainage and Irrigation Department’s steps to address the flooding problem in the state capital.
“So far, all the local authorities have forwarded their budget list to the relevant authorities which will be forwarded to the state government, and the proposed implementation period is four years from now to 2015,” he said.
Khoo added that this year, City Hall had allocated RM1.3 million to implement repair and upgrading works on existing drainage systems in several areas.
“The state government had also allocated another RM300,000 to City Hall to maintain 24 detention ponds which are located in housing estates as flood mitigation measures,” he said.
According to Khoo, under the long-term strategy, the Drainage and Irrigation Department is in the process of applying for allocation to carry out feasibility studies on the construction of tidal gates and three pump houses at Sungai Petagas, Sungai Sembulan and Sungai Likas to address the flooding problem in the state capital, Penampang and Putatan.
The state government, he said, had also received RM17 million for upgrading the drainage in Bukit Padang area as well as carrying works on the Likas pump house and the implementation of the drainage improvement works in Menggatal.
“The federal government had also allocated RM9 million for the flood mitigation program along Sungai Menggatal,” he said, adding that he was confident that the flood problem would be resolved after the three strategies are implemented.