Chang elaborating more on JBALB’s upcoming command centre. To his right is Liwan.
KUCHING: The Ministry of Utilities through its Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) will be embarking on the route to digital transformation with the setting up of a command centre at the department’s headquarters here.
JBALB director Chang Kuet Shian said the command centre would enable the department to gather data on the state’s water supply system and be kept up to date with real-time information.
“We have 87 water treatment plants operating throughout Sarawak and through the command centre, we will be able to receive real-time information so that we are updated on the status of the state’s water supply system.
“If there is data coming in that shows declining health of the system, we can quickly address it before it becomes a problem,” he told a press conference after the opening ceremony of the Workshop on Digital Transformation for Water Utilities Operators in Sarawak at a leading hotel here today.
Also present was Assistant Minister of Water Supply Datuk Liwan Lagang.
Chang revealed that the command centre was part of JBALB’s digital transformation and the department was looking to kick off the first phase of operations by January 2020.
“For the first phase, the state government has allocated us RM110 million which will be used for three projects namely the physical command centre, the hardware and software for the heart of the command centre and the sensors,” he said.
He added that the other challenges were the capacity building of existing staff to operate the command centre, the integration of different equipment to the server, the maintenance of the sensors and equipment.