BATU Lintang assemblyman See Chee How is donating his monthly allowance of RM20,000 to the state to spur the government take immediate steps to deal with flash floods in Kuching.

The PKR rep is hoping his action will get the state government to disburse the RM150 million approved for the state Ministry of Housing and Local Government for flood mitigation work in the city.

The amount, approved by the state assembly in June 2016, was to upgrade major drain outlets in vulnerable areas like at the Sarawak General Hospital, Jalan Batu Lintang, Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, the federal government quarters at Jalan Tun Jugah, Taman Malihah and to deepen Sungai Tabuan in the residential area of Tabuan Jaya.

Kuching, including a large part of See’s urban constituency, was flooded after a two-hour deluge yesterday.

“I am sending my one month allowance to the Chief Minister as my contribution to any efforts by the state government towards flash flood mitigation projects or flash flood relief,” See said.

“Let us all play our part to resolve this pressing issue. My one month’s allowance may be akin to contributing a brick to the project, but I hope that the state government will be kind enough to contribute a ‘jade stone’ from the state coffers, to carry out the needed projects,” See said.

“The state needs concerted effort and the political will to resolve this problem of flash flooding in all the cities and towns in Sarawak.

“We have to immediately start the necessary measures to mitigate flash floods which is wreaking havoc in our capital city,” he told reporters at his Maong bazaar service centre today.

See said the state government should have no problem disbursing the RM150 million as it constitutes only 1.6% of the RM9.073 billion it had allocated for development projects in the 2019 budget.

See also disclosed that when he spoke to state Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian on the flash flood, he (Dr Sim) sought his help to contact Dr Xavier Jayakumar, the federal Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister, to set up a discussion on a joint effort to deal with the problem.

See said Jayakumar “instantly agreed” to meet with Sim in Kuching for the discussion and had set December 5 – after Sim returns from a trip overseas – as the tentative date.

The Sarawak PKR vice president also wanted to know what had happened to the Sarawak urban stormwater management manual (SUStoM) which the state had approved for implementation in new development areas as a long-term measure to tackle the problem of flash floods.

The manual, prepared by the state Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) was approved by the state cabinet on January 28, 2016.

See said the continued incidences of flash floods showed that the “state planning authority is still coming up short in its implementation, choosing to approve development projects in cities and town arbitrarily”. – November 23, 2018.