MENGKUANG Dam in Bukit Mertajam will continue to serve as a strategic dam to ensure that water supply in Penang will not be affected by droughts, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
Lim said the dam’s expansion was to ensure that water supply to all investors and residents of the state would not be affected.
“When I was chief minister of Penang, we had planned to create a strategic water reserve in Mengkuang Dam. Besides expanding the dam, we also mapped out the surrounding water catchment areas.
“These are two of the three steps. The third step is to build the infrastructure necessary to ensure adequate water not only for the people but also for investors and traders in Penang, ” he told reporters after his visit to the dam on Sunday.
He added that the plan was to ensure that Penang would never need water rationing even during dry seasons.
Also present at the visit were the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) chief executive officer Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa, state environment committee chairman Phee Boon Poh, utilities committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari and youth and sports committee chairman Soon Lip Chee.
Lim, who is also Bagan MP, said the water at Mengkuang Dam had reached a volume of 72%.
“I have been informed by Jaseni that the water in this dam can accommodate all water needs in Penang until the end of the year, ” he said.
Jaseni told reporters Penang was the only state that had planned a strategic dam.
He said strategic dams are dams that store water during the rainy season for use during the dry season.
“It is unlike some other dams such as the Ayer Itam Dam or Teluk Bahang Dam where the water stored is used daily.
“The function of Mengkuang Dam is storing water so that during long droughts when water level for daily use drops, we still have a reservoir to supply water during long droughts, ” he said.
He suggested that the Federal Government built strategic dams in all states so that excess water in the rainy season would not be wasted by channelling it into the sea. — Bernama
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