OFFICIAL VISIT OF MINISTER FOR UTILITY AND TELECOMMUNICATION TO KUCHING WATER BOARD

KUCHING
18 JANUARY 2022

The newly appointed Minister of Utility and Telecommunication, Datuk Julaihi Narawi made an official visit to Kuching Water Board today. He was given a comprehensive briefing by the General Manager of Kuching Water Board (KWB), Puan Rodziah binti Mohamad, on the management and operation of Kuching Water Board as well as the challenges faced by KWB.

As a whole, the Minister was happy with KWB’s efforts in meeting the needs and expectations of the people of Kuching City with a population of 711,500 based on 2020 cencus data, as well as meeting the demand for water supply from JBALB for Samarahan, Puncak Borneo, Bau, Semariang and other nearby areas.

However, the Minister remarked that there is always room for improvement. He urged KWB, which is currently embarking on an organizational restructuring, to anticipate the growing expectations of the consumers particularly on the quality and efficiency of its service delivery, to improve its services by adopting digital technologies, and to equip its staff with necessary competencies to avert mismatch in demands and services in the near future.

The water demand which has to be met by KWB is ever increasing over the years in tandem with the development of Kuching City and greater Kuching. The growth is about 4 % per annum. Samajaya Free Industrial Zone with a current water demand of 24 MLD remains the largest consumer of water in KuchingCity. In addition, a few of the electronic industries at the Free Industrial Zone will be expanding their operation in the very near future and it is estimated that they will require an additional demand of 21 MLD by the end of the year.

With the rollout of the various Projek Pakyat under JBALB, the water demand from JBALB has increased from 100 MLD to 120 MLD over the past year and it is projected that the demand will further increase to 186 MLD by 2025.

The next few years will be challenging to KWB as it is required to produce more water to meet the steep escalation in water demand in its role as anchor plant for the southern region of the State Water Grid. It is banking on the completion of the upgraded Plant 2 by the end of this year to give an additional capacity of 100 MLD. Furthermore, it is planning to upgrade its Module 7 to give another 100 MLD.

Plant 5, which is located at Landeh, will able to give KWB sufficient treated water with additional 200mld from the existing capacity of 760mld to cater the ever increasing water demand for greater Kuching. The first phase of the project, which will take 3 years to complete, is currently progressing in earnest.

The Minister expressed his hope that KWB would implement the above projects effectively and timely to avert any water supply shortfall in the future.
-END-