By Lian Cheng and Karen Bong
KUCHING, Oct 18: A fund of RM4 billion has been allocated for the implementation of the first phase of the Water Supply Grid System to provide clean and reliable water supply statewide.
Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said to address these issues holistically and systematically, the Sarawak government has introduced the Water Supply Grid System spanning across the whole State of Sarawak for the purpose of providing reliable, sustainable and resilient water supply to address the short term, medium term and long term demands towards the year 2070.
“An initial funding of RM4 billion is allocated for the implementation of the first phase of the programme that shall be in place by 2025.
“The state is also implementing the Sarawak Alternative Water Supply Programme or SAWAS to serve isolated communities with standalone treated water supply systems, which otherwise would take years to have access to clean water.
“The implementation of SAWAS is one of the initiatives towards achieving 100 per cent water supply coverage by 2025 in Sarawak,” said Abang Johari.
He said through Sarawak’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030), the State aims to balance economic growth with a responsible approach towards utilisation of natural resources and integration of climate adaption and mitigation plans.
This approach priorities the sustainable use of land and ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs while preserving the health of the land and ocean ecosystem.
In line with sustainable development principles and commitments towards climate adaptation, various initiatives will be implemented such as to maintain more than 50 per cent forest and tree cover, establish an integrated watershed management policy to conserve and protect water resources, increase urban green spaces and priorities green mobility solutions, including developing fuel cell technology.
“There are many factors contributing to the state of the present water supply systems issues, and they include inadequate treatment plant capacities, insufficient raw water sources, inefficient water treatment processes, inadequate treated water storages, aged pipelines, lack of interlinked networks, poor soil conditions, and high non-revenue water amongst others,” said Abang Johari at the official launch of the three-day Borneo International Water and Wastewater Exhibition and Conference 2022, themed “Sustainability and Resilience Through Smart Technology and Innovation” held at a local hotel here today.
Among the invited speakers for the conference were Raveen Jaduram from New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Gary Wyeth from Wyeth Water Consultants of the United Kingdom, Shozo Kataoka from Tokyo Metropolitan Sewerage Service Corporation of Japan, Robert van As from Pacques Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd of the Netherlands, Dick Van Djik from Eviro Pure Foundation of the Netherlands, Datuk Abdul Kadir Mohd Din and Dr Salmah Zaharia from Akademi Sains Malaysia, Dr Zaki Zainudin from Islamic University Malaysia and Dr Teo Fang Yenn from University of Nottingham. — DayakDaily
