By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, March 4: Deepening of drainages alone will not be able to resolve flood woes in Kampung Rantau Panjang and Kampung Sinar Budi in Batu Kawa here as well as erosion from Sungai Sarawak overflow, says Deputy Premier of Sarawak Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.
He said when the river level rises higher than the ground level, short-term drains cannot help, no matter how deep it is.
“That is why we have the Riverbank Protection project, which includes retaining the wall to stop the overflow. Such a project is valued at RM15 million for Kampung Rantau Panjang and RM10 million for Kampung Sinar Budi Lama.
“Since Phase 1 of the project has been completed, although the water level is very high, it still managed to keep dry and stop further erosions,” he said in a Facebook post yesterday (March 3).
He also disclosed that during the recent flood in Kampung Rantau Panjang, the village chief told him that the water did not overflow at the riverfront thanks to the two to three feet concrete barrier, which is higher than the previous flood level.
However, the flood still occurred and affected some areas due to the water overflowing from a different location.
“The effects of the flood mitigation project tend to be only effective after all phases of the entire project are completed as water will flow to the next lowest part,” he elaborated.
Dr Sim also mentioned that the construction of the Sungai Sarawak bypass canal has been proposed as another long-term solution to tackle the flood issue.
“Imagine, when there is a traffic jam, we make a new road to bypass.
“When there is a water-flow jam (Sungai Sarawak overflow), we need to make a new man-made river to bypass, thus known as Sungai Sarawak Bypass Canal).
“Unfortunately, it will not be the only solution needed as we still have to address other local factors of flooding, like the climate change with an excessive amount of rain and rising sea level – all could cause more flooding,” he added.
He further called for huge funding from the Federal government for the implementation of the Sungai Sarawak Bypass Canal to keep Kuching ‘dry’ from the flood.
Additionally, he urged the Sarawak Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) to accelerate the implementation of various flood mitigation projects in Batu Kawa with approved funding to resolve the water woes in the constituency. — DayakDaily
