Negri mulls construction of its eighth dam

SEREMBAN: Negri Sembilan is considering building its eighth dam, in the Sg Jerang Valley in Jelebu, to meet the increasing demand for treated water.

Another option is for the state to buy raw water from Pahang, to be piped via a tunnel through the Titiwangsa mountain range.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said although the state has sufficient supply of treated water for the next 10 years, demand was expected to increase with new townships and industrial areas.

The state recently started mulling over the massive Malaysian Vision Valley (MVV) project which would be carried out over the next 30 years.

“We need to start planning from now because we can’t build a dam and water treatment facilities overnight. A feasibility study will be conducted in the next six months and we will decide on the better option,” he told reporters yesterday.

The state’s other dams are at Sg Terip, Kelinchi, Talang, Teriang, Sg Beringin, Ulu Sepri and Gemencheh.

The proposed 108,000ha MVV project would cover the Seremban-Nilai-Port Dickson area.

Mohamad said his administration hopes to provide an additional 500 million litres of water a day once the project was completed.

“If we decide not to build the dam, then we will have water chanelled from Pahang into our network of rivers.

“We will then build water treatment plants along the rivers,” he said adding that if the dam was built, it could mean that several villages would have to be submerged.

Mohamad said the state would discuss with the Federal Government and National Water Services Commission before making its decision.

In Petaling Jaya, Selangor Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs chairman Elizabeth Wong said the dams in the state were all above 50% capacity.

She said Selangor had learnt its lesson after the hot and dry weather in 2014 led to water rationing.

She said the state has been running cloud seeding operations “all year round” for the past two years.