29% shortage of water supply in Kota Kinabalu

 

Sabah deputy chief minister Shahelmey Yahya said a supply restoration programme was being carried out to regulate water flow around Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran. (Bernama pic)

KOTA KINABALU: Water supply disruptions in Sabah, especially in northern Kota Kinabalu, are due to the current demand rate for treated water exceeding 221 million litres per day (MLD) compared to the capacity of 171 MLD, the state legislative assembly was told today.

Sabah deputy chief minister Shahelmey Yahya, who is also state works minister, said it showed a 29.2% shortage of supply to the area. Therefore, a supply restoration programme was being carried out.

“Our short-term programme started last June to regulate the water flow around Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran.”

The situation was gradually stabilising but there are still areas with low water pressure,” he said in response to an oral question from Darell Leiking (Warisan-Moyog) regarding plans to deal with water problems, especially at the Sabah Women’s and Children’s Hospital here.

Shahelmey said the replacement of old water pipes, especially decades-old “asbestos cement pipes”, was also being done in stages, which is also one of the reasons for the high percentage of non-revenue water.

“We need to build dams and we request the cooperation of the state assembly members to support the effort when we want to build water dams for the purpose of long-term water supply for Sabah,” he said.

Regarding the problem of water supply disruption at the hospital, he said the water is being supplied through the Telibong water treatment plant II (Phase I).

“Immediate action was taken to increase the water pressure to the affected areas, especially the hospital. For now, the problem has been overcome,” he said.

Meanwhile, in response to a supplementary question from Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Senallang), he said the government had stopped the services of unlicensed private water tankers two weeks ago. - FMT