Taps at tourist villas run dry for 2 weeks
KOTA KINABALU: Borneo Beach Villas and Sabah Beach Villas at Karambunai have received no running water supply for more than two weeks due to a burst pipe.
The owners are seeking the assistance of government departments, especially the Chief Minister's and the Ministry of Tourism, to get the water supply restored immediately, as it not only affects the tourism industry in Sabah but also the confidence of foreign investors.
Calvin Ong, general manager of Borneo Beach Villas, and Ellie Chin, manager of Sabah Beach Villas, and European owners held a press conference yesterday to make the appeal.
According to Calvin, the whole resort at Karambunai have six apartment blocks and 80 villas with a total of 243 units.
The main water supply was interrupted since February 2, which resulted in a huge negative impact on business operations.
He said they were forced to urgently buy water from outside.
At least 20 water trucks were needed a day, and sometimes even then they still could not cope, he added.
Calvin said he had been told that the cause of the interruption of the water supply was a burst water pipe, and he had already called the State Water Department director Amarjit Singh, to explain the problems, and made an official complaint and asked for assistance on February 18.
They then went again to the State Water Department office on Feb 20 and met its deputy director Mohd. Azri Abdullah @ Edgardo C Apines.
They were subsequently promised assistance, but as at this moment, they had not seen any changes yet, thus they were very disappointed, Calvin said.
He stressed that during the New Year peak period, the occupancy rate was very high, and guests were inconvenienced, resulting in very bad online reviews, which will seriously affect the tourism industry in Sabah.
He said they were also dissatisfied with the management corporation, as it should take responsibility for the water situation, but instead it denied responsibility and they had to get the water trucks in themselves.
Borneo Beach Villas and Sabah Beach Villas are renting units to tourists on behalf of owners.
Borneo Beach Villas has 150 units, two restaurants and a spa centre while Sabah Beach Villas has 60 units.
The tourists are mainly Chinese, Korean and European.
In addition, there are 10 owners from Europe, mostly from the UK, who spend several months each year at their properties.
Calvin pointed out that since the relevant authorities have provided no solution so far and the problems are not resolved, they are eagerly appealing to relevant government departments to pay immediate attention to this matter.
Also present were owners Martyn and Ann Andrean from UK, James (UK) and Michael Power (Ireland).