VILLAGERS desperate for clean water helped to build a gravity feed system in their remote kampung in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, which effectively saw the cost for the project reduced by 30%.

For years, the folk at Gertak Kankong had no proper water supply, despite having a river nearby.

Mercy Malaysia, a civil society group focused on medical relief and humanitarian assistance to communities in need, collaborated with the water supply and environmental sanitation unit (Bakas) to create a gravity feed water system and build pipes connecting the stream to homes.

Quantity surveyor, Yusof Hassim, who is part of the Mercy Malaysia team which spearheaded the project, said they sourced the materials required while the villagers were enlisted to do the construction work.

The project was funded by Maybank Islamic.

“If we had tendered the project to other contractors, it would have cost us more than RM100,000.

“With the help of the villagers, we completed the project at a cost of RM70,000,” he said.

The project was completed in five weeks, two days before Ramadan.

Mazlan Mustapa, one of the villagers involved in the project, said some 100 residents of Kg Gertak Kankong worked on the project.

“The challenge was, of course, financial,” he said while expressing gratitude for the clean water at home.

Another villager, Mohd Nor Hafiz Mohd Nordin, said the hilly terrain was a hurdle when construction work began.

The villagers had to transport the construction materials up by foot. 

The logging route is only accessible by a four-wheel-drive vehicle to a certain point after which they had to go on foot. – June 18, 2019.