KUCHING: In an effort to alleviate the occurrence of flash floods, Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang has reminded all relevant parties such as developers and contractors not to block drainageways.
“Don’t just place small culverts in earth drains or temporary earth drains to allow water to flow through. When it rains, the small culvert cannot discharge our torrential kind of rainfall.
“This causes backflow and flooding upstream of the construction site,” he said during a press conference via Zoom after the MPP full council meeting on Thursday (Feb 25).
He said MPP had taken measures to dig up these culverts in a few locations.
“In fact, for whatever has got to be done, plans have to be submitted. Not only are plans not submitted, the sense of responsibility is not there. So we will dig these up if they do not do things properly.”
He said there were a lot of common problems such as this and thus urged developers and contractors to be aware of the issue and consequences.
He also encouraged the public to report such issues to MPP.
At the same time, he expressed MPP’s support for the Department of Irrigation and Drainage’s (DID) Flood Mitigation Project (FMP).
Lo acknowledged that DID had been working hard to find solutions to the flooding problem, pointing out that there were a number of FMPs in areas under MPP’s jurisdiction such as Stakan and Batu Kawa.
“DID has allocated RM120mil for FMPs in the Batu Kawa area alone.
“So our Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian has been going around to ensure that the funds allocated will be made use of in the most efficient way.”
