Dennis (second left) and Baram MP Anyi Ngau when checking on the flood situation in Long Bemang recently.
MIRI (Sept 26): Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau is calling on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Yaakob to extend flood assistance to Sarawak, in particular his constituency which was affected by several floods this year.
Dennis in an interview here today said some villages experienced floods of up to five times this year alone, leaving a trail of destruction to the house structures, infrastructures such as bridges and roads.
“For example, Long Bemang and Long Panai were flooded five times this year. And this is not the end of the year yet.
“The floods this year are the worst flood in recent history where many had come to me and complaint about the damage to their house’s structure and crops. But we cannot do much except that giving them food assistance,” he said.
Not only that, Dennis said the massive flood in May this year swept away the Tutoh bridge in Baram which is the lifeline for the community there.
“The bridge is very important as it is the only means for some 20 villages and settlements in upper Baram to travel to other parts of the division and beyond. Now the bridge is gone and the repair work has not started,” added Dennis.
Dennis said in fact, his request to the federal Public Works Department (PWD) and the National Security Council (MKN) for an allocation to repair the bridge has yet to receive any response.
“The PM had allocated RM78 million for infrastructure repairs and aid to more than 1,000 families affected by the flash floods in Kedah last month. We in Telang Usan really hope that the PM could extend similar assistance to us so that we can assist our people that had been suffering due to the various floods.
“We would also like to repair the infrastructures such as the Tutoh bridge because it is very important to the people there,” Dennis added.
He said, the bridge not only serve the community in Telang Usan, but also those wanting to go to Lawas and Limbang via the logging road from Miri and vice versa, especially now that the Brunei’s border is closed.
Dennis also pointed out that there is an urgent need to repair a hanging bridge at a Penan settlement in Long Luteng which was swept away by strong current during a recent flood.
“It was used by the Penan community there to send their children to school which is located on the other side of the river,” he said.
With the school reopening next month, Dennis is hopeful that the federal government through Ismail Sabri could expedite the repair work of the hanging bridge so that the students could return to school without having to use the old way, which is by longboats.
Dennis also took the opportunity to invite Ismail Sabri to visit Baram in the near future.