Plan Seriously for Flood Mitigation - Dr. Jeffrey

Damaged SK Bawang, Tamparuli

KOTA KINABALU - “The increasing incidents of flash floods all over Sabah is a worrying trend and actions need to be taken by the Sabah government to solve the problems of causation so as to reduce the floods” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief commenting on rising flood incidents in Sabah and losses from the floods and the announcement by the PM that RM480 million will be spent for flood mitigation in Kemaman and another RM700 million in Pahang.

Lately, the floods in Sabah has been creating havoc with the lives of those affected and caused untold damage to properties and crops and livestock.

The heavy downpour earlier this morning had caused serious flash floods flooding Tenghilan town and the town field in Kota Belud and flash floods in many low-lying areas including several schools.  It also caused landslides along the Tamparuili-Kiulu and Penampang-Tambunan roads making them impassable to traffic.

The flood problems of Sabahans are compounded by the lack of attention and denial of flood aid from the federal government.    Sabahans get nothing at all while their counterparts in the Peninsular get multiple aid including television sets and refrigerators up to RM5,000.00 per family excluding other federal cash aid.

The television sets will come in handy for the Umno/BN federal government as the recipients will get the chance to see the Umno/BN propaganda programs dished out by RTM and TV3.   Propaganda already start with the aid where it is publicized as though they are from Umno/BN and not the government of the day.   Its pure hypocrisy and abuse of federal funds for own political agenda.

Regardless of flood aid or not, the Sabah government need to serious look into the causes of the floods including flash floods and the Sabah JKR and Irrigation and Drainage Department need to come up with flood mitigation programs.

The planning authorities and local governments should also ensure that new development projects need to be scrutinized to cover drainage issues to avoid flash floods arising from the new developments.

Even simple flood mitigation steps such as clearing of clogged drains, deepening of rivers and waterways and building of diversion drains need to be carried out periodically.  While Kota Kinabalu may not reach the stage of requiring a stormwater drainage system like the SMART Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur, it may need additional drainage retention ponds to divert the additional water during heavy rains.

Once the flood mitigation programs are chartered, the Sabah government need to seek the funding for these projects from the federal government and at the same time make public disclosures of the projects.  With the public disclosures, the people can have a role to put their views and to demand the federal government to fund the projects.   The federal government will need reminding that the Umno/BN coalition needs Sabah and Sarawak to remain in power and that Sabah and Sarawak contributes some RM71.6 billion in oil revenue annually.

As it is, the federal government spends billions on flood mitigation projects in the Peninsula.  If the Sabah government fails to present the flood mitigation projects needed, the federal government will just pretend not to know.   They have no reason to spend money on flood mitigation projects in Sabah and divert money from the Peninsula.

The Sabah government need to take the initial step and plan for the required flood mitigation projects to reduce floods incidents in Sabah and then present the same to the federal government for funding.

Related issue .....

• Government to implement more flood mitigation projects nationwide