Politicians urged to stop “mudslinging”

KOTA KINABALU: Stop political “mudslinging” and work together to solve the flooding woes of Sabah, urged Sabah Independent Candidate Alliance (SICA) member Sim Sie Hong.

“The 16th state election (PRN16) in Sabah is finally over and new Chief Minister has been appointed. Many of the YBs (people’s representatives) in different political parties are still mud-slinging one another without providing some solutions for our day-to-day problems. Flooding problem.

“We have some very experienced engineers at DID (Department of Irrigation and Drainage). Some may have retired with tremendous experience. The minister should fish them out,  invite them back as an adviser to assist. I am quite sure, as the citizen of KK (Kota Kinabalu), they will help,” said Sim, who is an engineer by profession, in a statement here yesterday.

“I sincerely hope that the elected YBs can stop fighting with each other and assist to bring up these flooding issues in the state assembly to demand a solution and funding for the ongoing flood problems, which has haunted the people of Kota Kinabalu and Penampang for the last 30 years.

“Let’s work as a team. The Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK), JKR (Public Works Department), and DID, all of you can play an important role to solve the ongoing flooding problems in the city,” he emphasized.

Sim, who collected 72 votes in the PRN16, reiterated his election statement on the factors affecting the flash flood-prone coastal city.

“I took a drive around the city this morning during the heavy downpour to observe our drainage system. Many of the smaller drains were full and overflowed. Rubbish have clogged the outlet from the road causing the road to the pond and some low laying road were flooded as you can see this morning on social media in Telipok and some in Penampang area.

“Some roadside concrete drain is growth with thick shrubs and plants where the flow rate of the drain has been reduced by all these plants and rubbish. The majority of the local drains seriously lack maintenance,” he said.

Sim suggested a few solutions to manage indiscriminate rubbish disposal that leads to clogged up local drainage outlets through small roadside drains. The solutions include:

1. DBKK and local authorities must take these littering seriously with heavy fines to the offenders imposed. The uncivil minded action of the people has caused the city millions in cleaning and clearing the clogged drain.

2. DBKK and local authorities to set up a systematic monitoring team to inspect all drains in the city. From a small perimeter drain around the shop lots to a large storm drain.

3. Compulsory Gross Pollutant Trap (GPT) to be installed at all the local drains before discharging to the main storm drain. These will allow the maintenance team of the local authorities to monitor and maintain the drain more effectively.

He also observed that the JKR roadside drain was filled with overgrowth shrubs, plants and rubbish thrown by motorists and pedestrians on the road causing clogging and overflow of the drains. For this issue, Sim’s solutions include:

1. JKR to implement Compulsory Gross Pollutant Traps in the roadside drain for easy maintenance in the event of rubbish in the drain.

2. JKR should also consider covering up most of the drains in the city to prevent shrubs and unwanted plants grow in the drain where a good concrete drain eventually becomes a “earth drain” with all the plants in it.

3. The area often affected by the flood is the Inanam river and Darau River Basin where the downstream of these rivers used to be wetland and mangrove which has been turned into massive development like Alam Mesra and One Borneo. So, when it rains heavily upstream in Kokol hill and Kiansam mountain range, a large amount of rainwater is unable to be discharged quickly into local drains, river and finally find their way to the sea.

“DID must have done a comprehensive drainage master plan for the Greater KK area to mitigate flooding in the city. If no budget is available for flood gates in the major rivers in the KK coastal area at this time, the DID should consider solving the localize flooding problem with a smaller budget,” he said.

He urged DID to identify and localize the problematic flood-prone area, clear the drain, widen in some area, and identify intermediate regional detention ponds to temporarily mitigate the localize flash flood.

He added when more budget is made available, DID should wisely use it to implement the flood mitigation masterplan to resolve the flooding problem in the KK area once and for all.

Sim is part of the five who are in SICA, an ad-hoc member political grouping, which was formed during the recent Sabah state election.

SICA members consist of Sim, Melanie Chia, Achmad Noorasyrul Noortaip, Chin Ling Ling, and Jan Chow Yee Fah.

 

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