Major logging firms blamed for dredging failure

Some of the mega timber companies which have close links to the family members of the former chief minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, and PBB leaders have been blamed for the disaster of the RM10 million Pulau Kerto dredging project, which was supposed to solve the perennial  flood problems in Sibu.

This is because these companies have been carrying out uncontrolled logging activities in the upper Rajang River and its tributaries over decades, causing serious soil erosion which in turn had caused heavy sedimentation on the river bed of the Rajang River.

“This has resulted in the failure of the RM10 million Pulau Kerto dredging project which was supposed to solve the flood problems in Sibu.

“Studies have shown that the river bed along the entire lower Rajang River has become much shallower while in some places, the sedimentation is so serious that islands have been formed,” said DAP Dudong assemblyperson Yap Hoi Liong when commenting on a statement made by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director Wong Siu Hieng.

“These major logging companies operating along the Rajang River should volunteer to work hand-in-hand with the government in the flood mitigation programme in Sibu.

“These companies have profited enormously in their logging and timber processing activities along the Rajang River and they should exercise their corporate social responsibility by generously contributing towards the cost of dredging the river in the effort to prevent or minimise flooding in the lower Rajang River,” said Yap, who is Sarawak DAP deputy secretary-general.

Yap (right in photo) did not name the companies, but it is understood that a number of these mega timber companies have close links with the family members of Abdul Taib and PBB leaders.

“This is the root cause of flooding in the lower Rajang, particularly in Sibu,” Yap stressed, adding that the shallow river bed and the formation of the artificial islands are also making river navigation and transport unsafe.

Yap said he had raised the issue of flood mitigation in Sibu on many occasions, including during the state assembly meeting in May this year when he again urged the government to initiate a comprehensive and holistic approach to tackle the problem at its root cause.

“At the same time the relevant authorities should strictly enforce existing forestry and riverine laws as well as introducing new measures to control logging activities along the rivers to minimise erosion and to restore the riverine ecosystems,” he reiterated.

Slow progress of Phase 2

Yap also expressed deep disappointment at the slow progress of the Phase 2 of the Sibu Flood Mitigation project which had now been delayed.

The state DID director had disclosed that the completion date for the RM46.8mil project had been rescheduled to January next year as only 80 percent of the work had been done.
The project, which started on May 18, 2012, was supposed to be completed by Aug 15 this year.

“The delay is unacceptable because earlier on Feb 7 this year Sibu DID divisional engineer Ting Sing Kwong has said the project is 65 percent completed and 2 percent ahead of schedule. I can only come to the conclusion that the delay is due to incompetence in the various stages of the construction and poor coordination among the contractor and the various agencies involved,” Yap lambasted.

He said the residents as well as others using this busy stretch of the Lanang Road had suffered enough for four long years.

“I urge the DID and other relevant departments to apologise to the people for causing so much inconveniences and hardship and they should guarantee that the project would not be delayed again,” Yap pointed out.

Last week Wong told a media conference that the delay was mainly due to the relocation of underground Sesco cables, Telekom cables and water pipes which were not mapped, in addition to land issue, illegal structures built on road reserve area, construction of additional culverts and providing access roads for the adjacent properties.

On the dredging project, Wong said that it was a complete failure, an expensive lesson that the department had learnt.

The project was carried out due to pressure from politicians who felt that the dredging was the best solution to solve flooding problem in the town, he said.

Pointing out that the department should not listen to politicians in certain “technical decisions”, Wong said that dredging was not the solution.

Before the dredging was carried out, they already knew that there were millions of tonnes of sedimentation along the Igan River, but that dredging was still carried out due to persistent demand from the politicians.

Wong said that few months after the dredging, a new island was formed in the area, adding that the experience showed the need to let professional people to do the job as they knew better how to deal with the sedimentation problem.

He said that his department had identified seven places along the river where sedimentation had caused the river to be shallower.

The dredging project  had been a ‘hot potato’ in every election since 2010 especially in Sibu between the Bukit Assek assemblyperson the late Wong Ho Leng, and the MP for Bandar Sibu and the former Sibu SUPP chairperson Wong Soon Koh (left), who is also the Second Finance Minister and Minister for Local Government and Community Development.

Heated wars of words were exchanged between the two Wongs over the dredging project. Wong Ho Leng suggested that if DAP given a licence to do the work, they need not spend money as they could instead make money out of the dredging by selling sand and gravels.

This had been done in Penang and Selangor, said Ho Leng.

DAP capitalised  the issue to its advantage, resulting in  SUPP losing  control of its Sibu strongholds - it lost the state seats of  Dudong, Pelawan and Bukit Assek to DAP in the 2011 state election and lost the Bandar Sibu and Lanang parliamentary seats in the 2013 general election.