Treated piped water for Ili Batang Ai folk, Lidong area in the pipeline — Rayong
ENGKILILI: Folk living in Ili Batang Ai areas here especially those staying in settlements at Empelam to Ijok including villagers in Lidong area will soon enjoy treated piped water after the government approved a total of RM46.2 million to meet the basic needs there.
Speaking to The Borneo Post yesterday, Engkilili assemblyman Dr Johnical Rayong Ngipa said the project was included in the 11th Malaysian Plan (2016-2020).
“It has been a wish of mine to see my constituents, especially the Barisan Nasional ( BN) supporters in Ili Batang Ai and Lidong, enjoy quality water supply as soon as possible. So this project is one of the ways to repay their faith in BN,” he added.
Water supply has been a longstanding issue for villages located in the Ili Batang Ai and Lidong areas, as they have yet to have access to treated piped water despite settling in the area for so long.
Most of the villagers there had no choice but to depend on rain water for their water supply and life could be difficult for them especially when there is no rain for a long period of time.
Rayong recently met his constituents in Basi, one of the villages located in Ili Batang Ai area with Lubok Antu MP Datuk William Nyalau Badak.
During the visit, both Rayong and Nyalau received good feedbacks from the villagers who thanked the BN government for developing their area.
“I hope that the villagers here (in Basi) realise that only BN can develop their area and they were right to have put faith in the BN during the previous state election. I hope they will also continue to support the BN government if they want more development in their area,” said Rayong.
Rayong and Nyalau jointly launched the Basi road project which connects Basi and Sri Aman town during the visit.
“A long time ago a trip from Basi to Sri Aman will take four to five hours. Now with the new road, the trip will take less than an hour,” commented Nyalau.
At the function, Rayong presented a grant of RM13,600 to 34 families to help finance the installation of new electrical metres at their respective homes.
Basi Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK) received the money on behalf of the village while the village’s Women’s Bureau received RM5,000 from the assemblyman.
Meanwhile, Nyalau approved a grant of RM50,000 to help the villagers construct their new village hall.
He also pledged a sum of RM7,000 to the village JKKK and another RM5,000 to the village’s Women’s Bureau.