Water tanks for Tawau villages affected by shortage
TAWAU: A short-term plan will be implemented immediately to overcome the problem of treated water supply for the residents in Apas area, including a request for the Ministry of Works to speed up the upgrade of water treatment plants in the district.
Apas assemblyman Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said his party is in the process of surveying public places in the affected village areas to place large water tanks so that residents could get clean water in the event of water rationing.
“The big tank is a shortterm initiative by the Apas constituency to supply water to the affected residents while waiting for the situation to fully recover,” he said when met at his office, here.
Zizam said he was informed that the residents have applied several times to the Tawau Water
Department (JAT) to provide water delivery services, but there are some areas that have never received the service.
“It is understood that the JAT has a constraint to deliver water because only one truck is providing services in seven constituencies, including the Kalabakan parliamentary,” he said, adding he hopes the Ministry of Works and JANS can take the issue as an urgent need to provide water trucks in every constituency.
According to him, his party was briefed by JAT that the problem was due to the existing water treatment plant that needs to be upgraded because it was not enough to supply water to the entire district so it had to schedule rations.
Meanwhile, Nizam said his party agreed with the statement made by Works Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar to upgrade several water treatment plants in the state, including in Tawau.
“Water treatment plants in Tawau, especially the North, Balung and Cintamata plants need to be upgraded so that the water problem that occurs in this district can be completely resolved,” he said.
Nizam, who is also Assistant Minister of Finance, hopes that the water dam project proposed by the Barisan Nasional government in 2017 worth RM400 million at Gudang 4 can be implemented immediately.
According to him, the dam at Gudang 4 should be completed on schedule but when the Pakatan Harapan government took over the reins of government, the project was cancelled before resuming it after seeing the need for the dam.
“We see that the dam is a twopronged project because its function is not only to solve the problem of water shortage at the plant but it can also overcome the problem of flash floods in this district during the rainy season,” he said.