Why play the ‘blame game’, Kota Sentosa rep tells DAP man

KUCHING (Aug 25): Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap questions the rationale behind Democratic Action Party’s man Michael Kong playing the ‘blame game’ on the Department of Irrigation’s (DID) Sungai Stakan flood barrier project implementation.

This came following Kong’s recent remarks on the project where he had earlier commented that despite the initiative, DID had fallen short of making comprehensive planning and addressing effective downstream dredging at Sungai Stakan.

“Any attempts to mitigate flooding in these areas without addressing downstream dredging at Sungai Stakan risk exacerbating the situation, as additional flood water will be channelled into the river without sufficient discharge capacity,” said Kong.

“And that, the river widening efforts along Lorong 3 have essentially transformed the area into a detention pond, yet the downstream discharge capacity remains unchanged,” he added.

Kong claimed that a thorough examination of the locality map revealed that during periods of high water levels or overflow in Sungai Stakan, the drainage systems whether clear or obstructed, were incapable of channelling water into the river.

“It’s akin to pouring more water into a full kettle with an unchanged spout. The downstream section of Sungai Stakan acts as this critical spout, but years of indiscriminate dumping, soil erosion and sediment deposition have compromised its depth and capacity,” he said.

In a statement, Yap slammed Kong’s remarks for calling out the Sarawak government to take responsibility for this oversight, as well as for his remarks on the government spending the people’s money for such a project.

The flood mitigation project is undertaken by the federal government and that DID is a department that implements both federal and state-funded projects, he cleared the air.

“DID is under the concurrent list of the federal constitution, and Sungai Stakan flood mitigation is a federal project, whereas the post of chairman for the Sarawak Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board that Kong holds is a federal government appointed one.

Thus, he found it ironic for Kong, the special assistant to Sarawak DAP chairman and Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen, to have issued such a statement.

“Shouldn’t he, as the special assistant of Chong, the MP of the federal Pakatan Harapan unity government work within the federal system to find out what the actual problem is?

“Rather than speculating on the problem and indulging in the blame game on DID, then shouldn’t the MP (Chong) be bidding for federal funds for a comprehensive study to be carried out?” he questioned.

He further emphasised that the Stakan flood mitigation project was carried out to speed up discharge of water during the rainy season into the Sarawak River.

“On my part, it appears that the flash flood problem is upstream at Mile 7, Kota Sentosa commercial area and never at the place where the project is on-going,” he pointed out.

“In fact, my Rural Transformation Project (RTP) of RM1.1 million for drainage upgrading at Mile 7, Kota Sentosa is on-going, and once completed, it should speed up the discharge of storm water into the monsoon drains and subsequently into the river,” said Yap, in pledging his commitment to resolve the flash flooding issues in his constituency.