Sabah Water Council to discuss heatwave issues tomorrow

 

The Sabah Water Council has scheduled an urgent meeting for tomorrow to discuss the heatwave engulfing most parts of the state, which has also led to the Papar district being declared a drought disaster area.

Deputy Chief Minister I Jeffrey Kitingan said the meeting, which he will chair, is important as the situation has hit the state hard with river levels dropping between 10 and 40 percent, causing water supply issues.

“All agencies and departments under the State Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Ministry are requested to provide their latest reports,” he told reporters after witnessing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing between the state ministry and Shaanxi Construction Engineering (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd for a flood mitigation-related project Kota Kinabalu today.

Sabah Irrigation and Drainage Department director Siraja Bashora representing the ministry and Shaanxi Construction Engineering (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Cao Yue Lei signed the MoU.

Jeffrey, who is also the state agriculture, fisheries and food industry minister, said several districts such as Papar and Tambunan have been adversely affected by the dry spell, especially paddy fields as their water sources primarily rely on rivers.

“For the time being, even though the effect is not too serious, the meeting tomorrow would address recommendations to deal with this situation and also on additional financial needs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey said the Sabah government is planning to expand paddy farming from 24,000ha to 30,000ha this year, thus reducing the state’s reliance on rice imports.

He said this would help Sabah save hundreds of millions of ringgit and ensure food security in the state.

“The MoU with Shaanxi Construction Engineering today can help us to accomplish what we wanted but could not implement due to lack of funding,” he said.

The state ministry, in a statement after the event, said the MoU primarily outlines the commencement of a due diligence study that will serve to assess the feasibility of conducting flood mitigation, irrigation and drainage projects in Sabah.

This MoU is also viewed as an initial step towards the feasibility of conducting the flood mitigation, irrigation and drainage projects in Sabah, it said.

- Bernama