Green light for residents to reconstruct longhouses after sand-filling — Wong
SIBU: Longhouse folks who are about to build new longhouses in Tanjong Penasu and Pulau Kerto may go ahead without fear of getting hit by floods.
Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh told residents of Rumah Michael Jalak in Tanjong Penasu and Rumah Charles Egat at Sungai Langgup, Pulau Kerto that their sites are currently being raised with sand.
“We’re raising it above f lood level at a cost of RM250,000.
“The projects are carried out by the Public Works Department under the Rural Transformation Programme ( RTP) for Bawang Assan state constituency,” he told reporters when inspecting the progress of five RTP projects on Tuesday.
Wong said the two longhouses were destroyed by fire in two separate incidents last year.
Rumah Michael Jalak was burnt down on July 12 while Rumah Charles Egat was razed on Aug 3.
According to Wong, when the sand- filling work is completed, the longhouse residents can start to rebuild their longhouses.
“They can either raise it or they can build it like terraced houses,” he said.
He later appealed to longhouse residents to be careful with fi re, particularly families with small children.
He said more often than not, fire incidences start in the kitchen and sometimes by children who play with fi re.
“I will also make sure every longhouse in my area has at least one fi re extinguisher.
“Maybe later on, the United People’s Party ( UPP) community service board may do something like provide hoses to longhouses that already have fi re hydrants,” he said.