No excuse for govt over years of failure in solving flooding problems

KUCHING: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo expressed her frustration over the failed handling of the perennial flooding problems in Sarawak, as well as road-collapse incidents triggered by downpours.

She pointed out that despite numerous mitigation measures that had been announced since the time when Barisan Nasional (BN) was still helming the federal government, residents and also travellers were still affected by many problems deriving from flash floods.

“Even now, one night of rain could bring many flooding problems to households and road travellers.

“Such misery exacerbates when there’s a ‘King’s tide’,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Soo then questioned about had become of the highlypublicised flood mitigation schemes, and also of each elected representative’s RM5million or RM10 million in yearly allocation meant to be utilised for the constituents’ needs.

“Is the Sarawak government working on solutions meant to prevent floods from hitting our towns and roads in the future?”

Soo said while she was no engineer, she wondered if drainage canals could be made deeper – if not wider – to facilitate better and faster outflow of water.

“What about keeping the drainage canals well-maintained and unclogged?

“What happened to all those grand schemes for flood mitigation from all those years back? It seems none has materialised,” she questioned.

Soo pointed out that with the people experiencing the same problems year in and year out, there should be no excuse for any government over its failure to solve any recurrent structural problem, which must not be dismissed as ‘a natural disaster’.

“I believe that the people are fed up of having to face the same flooding problems, and they would not want to be told to vote for the same administration again for progress, when there’s little progress and development to show for,” she added.