LAHAD DATU, Jan 7 — The state government through the Sabah Water Department is working to ensure that Sabahans, including in Lahad Datu, can enjoy treated water supply with the implementation of various impactful projects, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.

He said that, for example, in Lahad Datu several projects had been planned to increase the capacity of treated water supply because the water treatment plants in Sepagaya and Segama were not sufficient to meet consumer demand.

“The existing plant only has a maximum capacity of 56 million litres of water per day while the water supply requirement has increased to 91 million litres. So among the projects under implementation is the Dewata area rural water supply project (BALB) with a design capacity of 3 million litres per day and it is expected to be ready this year.

“Apart from that, the construction of the New Water Treatment Plant with a design capacity of 60 million litres per day is expected to be completed in 2023. In addition, we have a BALB project (tender document) in Tungku as well as the construction of the Sri Putatan Water Treatment Plant and surrounding pipeline system,” said Bung Moktar, who is also Sabah Works Minister.

He said this at the opening ceremony of the New Water Treatment Plant Phase 1 construction project in Kampung Kenangan here today.

According to Bung Moktar, the Sabah Water Department also listed proposals according to priorities in the state’s water supply development programmes this year, including the proposed construction of off-river storage.

“As the minister in charge of the State Water Department, I always support all improvement efforts that need to be done to improve the quality of services for the people, whether the solution is for the short or long term,” he added.

He also requested that the allocation for the implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway Phase One project in Sabah be expedited as many roads were badly damaged due to continuous rain.

“Currently, the allocation used is from the infra allocation of RM1 billion and that allocation can only complete two of the 22 Pan Borneo packages announced. This means that it will take another 20 years to complete the other 20 packages,” he said, adding that the state government had previously agreed for the project to be implemented through a private financing initiative.

He also hoped that the promise to Sabah could be fulfilled immediately since the Pan Borneo Highway project in Sarawak was already 80 per cent completed.

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