Minister sounds call for inter-agency cooperation to prevent water woes

Julaihi (front, second right) being briefed by Daniel (front, right) during the inspection on the burst-pipe site. Seen on the minister’s right is Dr Abdul Rahman.

MIRI (June 21): The prolonged water supply disruption in this city triggers a wake-
up call for all relevant authorities.

In this regard, all monitoring units of the main water pipelines in Sarawak are
instructed to undertake measures to detect potential problems early and take early
pre-emptive steps.

In making this call, Minister of Utility and Telecommunication Datuk Julaihi Narawi
said the monitoring units under the Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) and the
management of the respective water boards should run regular checks to identify
any potential leakage of pipes, some buried as deep as 2m underground, before it
could snowball into a major disruption.

“Preventive and pre-emptive actions should be taken instead of ‘firefighting’ at the
scene (of the problem),” he said in a press conference here yesterday, called after
the inspection on the site of the dislocated water mains at Mile 7 of Miri-Bintulu
Road.

Accompanying him were state Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy
Minister of Utility and Telecommunication II Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi, Deputy
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I Datuk Sebastian Ting,
Deputy Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Development I Datuk Rosey
Yunus,as well as Laku Management Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Nelson Balang Rining
and its chief executive Daniel Punang.

At the press conference, Julaihi also spoke about the long-term plan to replace the
old main pipes in Miri and other parts of the state, pointing out that the burst
1,100mm-diameter pipes in the section of this city were already 30 years old, while
the smaller ones (750 mm) were a decade older.

“The long-term plan is to connect northern and central Sarawak to Sarawak’s water
grid system, which is currently being rolled out in southern Sarawak so that there
could be alternative waters sources – akin to the state’s electricity grid.”

Julaihi empathised with the consumers over the inconvenience and hardship that
they had been facing since the water supply disruption began on June 16 due to
dislocated pipes and the leakage caused by ground settlement.

Laku had struggled to restore the supply after the first attempt failed in rectifying
the problem involving the old pipes, which had burst on June 9.

In a statement, it said it was targeting 90 per cent water supply restoration as it
was gradually building up water pressure to normal levels. In the meantime, it had
been sending water-tank trucks to the affected consumers on high grounds as well
as those in the farthest end of the water supply distribution system.

It is reported that the situation has adversely impacted about 65,000 Mirians.

In this respect, Julaihi said a post-mortem would be conducted on this incident and
in the long-term plan, Laku was eyeing to relocate the pipelines out of the Pan
Borneo Highway layout to avoid any damage to the pipes.

“There is no compromise on this.

“Both the managements of Pan Borneo Highway project and the JKR (Public Works
Department) have texted me about this – the relocation must be done without the
risk of any major water supply disruption along this 80kmstretch,” he said.

Julaihi said there would be lessons to be drawn from this unfortunate incident after
the post-mortem over this incident, said to be caused by soil settlement that led to
the dislocation of pipes and the subsequent repairs works.

It was reported that Laku was overwhelmed by a surging demand for water delivery
to the affected residential areas, prompting other authorities to come in and render
their help including the Fire and Rescue Department, which had augmented all
efforts to rectify the situation through the usage of their water-bearing trucks.

He also said in terms of restoration works and the delivery of water to the affected
consumers, ‘all hands were on deck’.

“Laku and its contractor have been workinground the clock over the past five days;
the pipeline repair works concluded at 3am on July 19, enabling Laku to proceed with
testing, flushing and enabling water-pressure build-up in the distribution pipelines.

Meanwhile in his remarks, Lee said the response to the water crisis in Miri had been
varied.

“On one hand, there were kind donors sourcing bottled water from as far as Sibu
and Bintulu, to be distributed; on the other hand, the Ministry of Domestic Trade
and Consumer Affairs had issued two summonses to offenders found profiteering on
people’s misery.”

On another matter, Lee proposed for the construction of high-level tanks at
densely-populated residential areas.

“This can be a precautionary step, which can buffer the severity of water supply
disruptions in the future,” he said.