Councillors joining MCC staff from various departments in attending to public requests and complaints during the ‘Meet the People’ event at Krokop Lorong 5 yesterday.
MIRI: Several flood mitigation projects for this resort city are yet to be implemented due to unavailability of funds.
In disclosing this, Miri mayor Adam Yii said most of the flood mitigation projects were handled by Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) and some were under Miri City Council (MCC) and Public Works Department (JKR).
“The drainage system is a public infrastructure under multi-agencies jurisdiction such as MCC, DID and JKR. However, most of the flood mitigation projects are handled by DID,” he told the media when met during MCC’s ‘Meet the People’ event at Krokop Lorong 5 Market yesterday.
Yii added that they had a meeting on the flood mitigation projects with JKR, DID and Land and Survey Department on Thursday.
“We did bid for necessary funding for these flood mitigation projects but the proposed projects have not been approved. There were allocations approved before the 14th general election such as RM500,000 for Eco Park area but this project has been called off after the election under the new federal government administration. Thus, unavailability of funding is the primary reason why some flood mitigation projects for the city are not carried out at the moment.”
In addition to that, he pointed out that issues on acquiring private land had also slowed down the implementation of the flood mitigation projects.
Touching on the flash flood that hit several low-lying areas in the city on Wednesday, he said it was caused by the heavy downfall of 170 millimetres of rain since Tuesday evening. With such volume of rainfall, he said the existing drainage system was unable to cope with the excess water, thus there is a need to further improve and upgrade the existing drainage system, particularly those under MCC’s jurisdiction.
He added that during the meeting several flash flood prone areas were identified such as Eco Park, Taman Tunku and Tanjong Lobang.
Earlier, at the ‘Meet the People’ gathering the council received a total of 23 public requests and complaints on drainage system, traffic lights, the landslide at Pujut Corner and a suggestion to build a small roundabout for Krokop 5.
Others included public health nuisance caused by backyard chicken rearing, request for a bulk bin centre and cleanliness issue in Krokop Lorong 3, tree cutting and request for exercise facilities at Taman Bulatan and Taman Awam.
Two complaints were on refuse collection and stray dogs. The council also received a request for free parking area at Krokop Lorong 5 Market.