SABAH Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony today defended the government’s plans to construct a new dam to resolve the water shortage plaguing the west coast districts.

He said there was an existing 10-15% water shortage in Beaufort, Papar, Putatan, Kota Kinabalu, Inanam, and Tuaran.

“Whether we like it or not, we need to find a way to resolve the water woes, the demands of which continue to grow day-by-day,” he told the state assembly.

Anthony was responding to a question by Tambunan assemblyman and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku chief Jeffrey Kitingan, who asked why the government was continuing to build a new dam.

The six-month-old Warisan government previously cancelled the Barisan Nasional government proposed controversial Kaiduan Dam, but decided to build a new dam anyway in a different location.

The new dam, Papar Dam, is only a short distance upriver from Kaiduan in Penampang, which is expected to generate up to 1 billion litres.

Anthony noted two locations have been proposed for the dam, in Kaiduan and the other in Kg Manalipau, also in Papar.

Earlier, Anthony noted the ministry would be able to help the state government save more money if it decided to cancel the contracts the previous BN government had awarded to six firms.

He said the government had to pay up the firms RM15.5 million a month to these companies and that the companies did not need to spend a single sen to run operations.

“I wonder why didn’t the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission quiz the former ministers who were in charge of the projects,” he said. – November 13, 2018.