SARAWAK is committed to spend “a few billion ringgit” over the next few years in an ambitious programme to tackle flash flooding in the state, Premier Abang Johari Openg said today.

He said the funding will come from state coffers.

“We cannot rely on the federal government for this,” he told reporters after meeting flood evacuees at the SJKC Chung Hua Batu Kawa temporary relief centre just outside Kuching.

Eighty people from 19 families are sheltering at the school.

He said the first step is to perform a holistic review of the drainage systems in all flood-prone areas in the state.

“We have this problem not only in Kuching, but also in Sri Aman, in Sibu and in Miri.”

Abang Johari said he ordered state Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian to spearhead the study.

Sim had just returned from a working trip to The Netherlands to study the country’s expertise and experience in tackling its flood problems. 

“The Dutch, they have a good (flood mitigation) system,” Abang Johari said of the country that lies largely below sea level and had in the past suffered serious flooding caused by North Sea storms.

He said the lessons Sarawak hydro and drainage engineers picked up on a similar study trip to Singapore will also be put to good use.

“If we don’t start (flood mitigation) now, we will experience this flooding for eternity.”

In response to detractors, the premier said the mitigation plan cannot be undertaken overnight. 

He said it will be done in stages based on the allocation set aside for that year. 

Four temporary relief centres in Serian, Sri Aman, Betong and Kuching currently house 235 flood evacuees from 63 families in the state. – March 2, 2023.