Teo: Plans in the pipeline to end Sabah's water woes

KOTA KINABALU: Comprehensive short and long-term plans are already on the table to resolve water problems across the state, said Sabah Special Tasks Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang (pic).  

The plans include tackling water shortages caused by natural disaster, including the current dry spell, he said.  

Teo said the state government also approved a Climate Change Mitigation Programme to improve water supply.  

The programme studies the effects of climate change and natural disaster on water supply and comes up with a comprehensive risk management strategic plan, he said.  

“It will include the exploration of alternative water resources, such as underground water, during a disaster,” Teo said at the Sabah state assembly when answering a question from Datuk James Ratib (BN-Sugut), who wanted to know what steps were being taken by the government to face the dry spell, particularly in rural areas.  

Teo added that Sabah is looking to upgrade its facilities to protect and preserve water supply and speed up the gazetting of catchment areas.  

“MetMalaysia is installing automatic weather stations in six districts to monitor the situation in Sabah’s interiors,” he said, adding that RM68mil will be spent to improve weather inspection systems.  

“This short-term project of MetMalaysia expected to be completed by next year will increase weather forecast accuracy," he said.