Young men from Kampung Pujut Tanjung Batu bathe in the river as there is no water supply at their houses.
MIRI (June 18): Mirians have been rushing out of their houses with their basins, buckets and containers to collect rainwater over two consecutive days, as not a drop of water runs out from their taps.
As at 9pm on Thursday, many residents were still raiding the main supermarkets here to look for drinking water, with the reverse-osmosis variety could fetch a price of up to RM20 per carton.
A huge crowd could also be seen at a popular wholesale centre in Piasau Industrial Estate to shop for buckets and other water storage containers.
Some of the affected residents headed to Miri River to bathe and a photo-capture of this scene was shared on Facebook by one ‘Syeedah Sidek’ from Kampung Pujut Tanjong Batu.
Residents have been collecting rainwater due to the supply woes.
“Young men from Kampung Pujut Tanjung Batu jumping into the river today to bathe,” the netizen told Utusan Borneo, The Borneo Post’s sister Malay daily.
The local elected representatives were busy visiting their constituents and also the sites where the contractor under Laku Management Sdn Bhd were undertaking repairs to make Miri water supply back on track, which in this latest incident, was estimated to take about 36 hours.
Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, also the minister in charge of Miri Division Disaster Management Committee, acknowledged that the repairs works were ‘complicated and tough’.
“Nonetheless, everyone is working hard to resolve this problem affecting Miri water supply consumers.”
Lee inspects the repair works.
Meanwhile, Pujut assemblyman Mayor Adam Yii refuted the allegations about his constituency being deprived of water supplied in tankers.
He said a water truck, with 7,000-litre capacity, from the Pujut-Krokop branch of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) was distributing water to the affected households in Yakin, Jee Foh and Piasau Jaya areas until 3am yesterday.
“They’re trying to provide more trucks with water tanks to distribute water to more areas.
“We will do the best we can,” he said, adding that Miri City Council had also been assisting Laku in arranging and coordinating the distribution of water to the affected areas.