THE Sarawak government has approved the implementation of the Sarawak Urban Storm Water Management (Sustom) manual to tackle flash flood in new development areas.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg, in a media conference at the end of a briefing on the flood situation in the state, said the rapid disposal approach for water drainage was no longer effective and efficient at the current stage of urban development.

Sustom utilises the detention/retention, infiltration, and purification method.

The chief minister said the quantity and quality of stormwater from developing areas could be maintained to be less or equal to the pre-development condition.

“Under Sustom, storm water management will have multiple green and hazard free objectives within and downstream areas, including to control nuisance flash flooding,” he said.

He also rebutted a PKR lawmaker’s criticism of the state’s flash flood mitigation efforts, saying it took time to complete the projects.

He said of the 97 projects to keep floods at bay, 63 “should be completed by the end of the year or early next year”.

The chief minister was responding to PKR vice-president See Chee How, who called on him to direct the Cabinet Committee for Rural Transformation “to explain the unsatisfactory performance in undertaking the RM43.3 million initiatives allocated to the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to implement 97 flash flood mitigation projects”.

See, who is the Batu Lintang assemblyman, claimed that until last month, only nine projects were completed, with 49 “in various stages of physical works” while 39 were still at tendering stage.

“As at December 20 (yesterday) out of 97 projects, 13 have been completed, 71 are at various stages of implementation, eight at tender evaluation, and five at various stages of implementation,” the chief minister said today.

Abang Johari said time was the main factor as the flood mitigation projects were only implemented after floods hit Kuching and towns in Sarawak at the beginning of the year, 

The state approved RM100 million for flood mitigation projects after the flood.

The projects are centred around the Sarawak general hospital, Batu Lintang area, Sungai Tabuan, Taman Unigarden, SK Muara Tuang, Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, former federal quarters at Batu Lintang and Jalan Ong Tiang Swee, Sungai Tabuan, and Taman Malihah.

The chief minister said the remaining 51 projects would commence early next year.

He also said some of the projects faced delays due to “some technical problems”.

To avert flooding in the short term, Abang Johari said the local authorities as well as the Department of Drainage and Irrigation  and the Public Works Department had been ordered to carry out regular maintenance of the inlet sumps, clearance of scupper drains, roadside and main drains, periodic clearing, and desilting of affected rivers.

In the medium term, major drainage outlets would be upgraded at the SGH, in Batu Lintang, SK Muara Tuang, Sungai Sinjan, Sungai Gersik and Sungai Tabuan. These projects, said the chief minister, were currently at tender evaluation stage. – December 21, 2017.