PH to monitor KB flood mitigation projects – Liew
KOTA KINABALU: Pakatan Harapan (PH) will closely monitor the implementation of the proposed federal governmentfunded flood mitigation projects to overcome the “flood catastrophe” in Kota Belud, according to its Sabah chief Christina Liew.
“We will continue to hold the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and its elected representatives from Kota Belud responsible, until and unless we see a real and effective solution to the exceptional flood catastrophe.
“There should be no more ‘lip service' by the BN government and its elected representatives as the people of Kota Belud have suffered enough of the constant devastating floods whenever there is heavy rainfall.
“We want to put on record, how long more it would take to implement the proposed flood mitigation measures,” Liew said.
Liew, who is Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah chairman cum Api-Api assemblywoman, was responding to the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department cum Kota Belud MP Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan that three flood mitigation projects will be implemented soon.
The projects would involve flood mitigation and deepening of three major rivers in the district, namely Sungai Abai, Sungai Tempasuk and Sungai Kadamaian.
Abdul Rahman said an allocation of RM20 million from RM27 million had been approved by the federal government for the short-term flood mitigation works, while RM50 million of the total RM140 million was approved for long-term mitigation projects.
He said the third project involved the deepening of the siltfilled river that flowed from the highlands of Ranau following the earthquake.
He noted that the flood catastrophe in Kota Belud had been exceptional after the earthquake in 2015 that caused low-lying Kota Belud to be easily inundated similar to flood catchment areas, with a 20 percent rise in water levels and causing severe floodings.
Meanwhile, Liew took Sabah Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Abdul Rahim Ismail to task for accusing her of ‘pointing fingers' at certain national leaders over the major floods that hit Kota Belud recently.
“He (Rahim) should get his facts right before attempting to defend his federal minister friends from Kota Belud, who failed to visit the affected areas to see for themselves the devastation caused by the severe flood to the people.
“All that I commented in my recent press statement was based on reported facts where I questioned where are the promised funds that are meant for the proposed flood mitigation projects, including the dredging of rivers in Kota Belud? Is that wrong?” she said.
In his statement last Friday, Rahim urged all parties, including the opposition, to work together during disasters instead of pointing fingers.
“Natural disasters like the floods are something that must be tackled by all parties concerned because they cannot be solved by simply accusing or putting blame on other political parties,” Rahim said.
To this, Liew pointed out that PKR Sabah had on last Thursday through its charity arm, the Society of Hope Kota Kinabalu (SOHKK), initiated a humanitarian campaign in aid of the flood victims, besides donating RM10,000 for the purchase of boats and other necessities.
The following day, she also led a team of SOHKK officials and volunteers to visit some of the worse-hit villages in Kota Belud to assess the impact of the floods on the villagers.
“Many of those villagers who we talked to expressed great disappointment that their YBs (elected representatives) didn't turun padang to visit them, not even at the four evacuation centres where they were temporarily sheltered during the devastating flood.
“We also received complaints from the flood victims that the logistics management for the evacuation exercise was not satisfactory.
“Some of the flood victims, such as those at Kg. Keranjangan Mukim Labuan, were stranded in the house for 12 hours before they were evacuated.
'The quality of food served at the evacuation centres was also unsatisfactory.
“This certainly does not augur well for the BN government's 1Malaysia slogan of “People's First, Performance Now”,” she asserted.