Bung promises swift repairs to Sabah roads affected by landslides

 

The Jalan Kota Kinabalu-Keningau is one of the stretches severely damaged after a landslide yesterday. (DCM office pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin says immediate action will be taken by the public works department (JKR) to repair roads damaged by landslides in several districts in the state.

The landslides were triggered after non-stop rain from Thursday.

Bung, who is state works minister, said many of the collapsed roads were under the care of concessionaires appointed by the government.

“We have told the concessionaires concerned to immediately repair any roads affected or make alternative routes for the benefit of the public,” he said, in a statement here today.

He said he also received complaints that sections of the Pan Borneo Highway still under construction were flooded, adding he has instructed the contractor to clear the puddles of water and clean the roadside drains.

At the same time, he said he had requested all JKR district engineers to monitor roads in landslide-prone areas in lieu of the current bad weather in Sabah.

Speed up flood mitigation project, says MP

Penampang MP Darell Leiking has called on the state government to expedite a flood mitigation project in his constituency to address the perennial flooding there as well as surrounding districts of Kota Kinabalu and Putatan.

In a statement today, Leiking said the delay to the completion of the Moyog flood mitigation project has led to continuous flooding in Penampang, adding the delay was mainly caused by the holdup to the Petagas river basin package.

“What is the status of the flood mitigation plan and are the issues about land acquisition, which cannot seem to resolve the much anticipated completion of the project since its announcement in 2017.”

The Warisan deputy president also urged the state to come up with an emergency allocation to mitigate and repair hillside erosions that occurred at several sites in Penampang and Kota Kinabalu after the downpour yesterday.

Leiking called for immediate release of emergency funds for remedial work or at least to temporarily mitigate the hillside erosion.

He said it was also time for the state government to restudy ordinances and regulations related to the future development in low plains or flood-prone areas in Sabah. - FMT