Close Sabah Water Department, replace with professionally run statutory body

FORMER Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee has called for the Sabah Water Department to be closed and replaced with a professional statutory body to manage water supply in the state.

He said the failure of the state water department is the root cause of the state’s long-running water supply crisis.

Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party president, said the department had repeatedly failed despite decades of government funding and legal authority under the Sabah Water Supply Enactment 2003.

“Sabah has ample water resources — from rivers, rain and even the sea. Yet, billions have been spent, and we still cannot solve this most basic utility that people need every day,” he said in a statement.

Yong urged the state government to close the department and replace it with a professionally-run statutory body, arguing that Sabah has capable engineers and administrators who can deliver more reliable results.

“The Water Department is the problem. I told them not to rely on the department for solutions. Look beyond. Viable and cost-effective solutions exist,” he said, referring to a pre-council meeting in April 2023 chaired by the Chief Minister.

He said it was alarming that the current Public Works Minister had to instruct the department to investigate why there was still a shortfall in water supply in Putatan and Kota Kinabalu despite the addition of five million litres per day from the new Kasigui Water Treatment Plant.

“The department then ‘discovered’ that the problem lies in the distribution network.

“This is something they should have known for years.

“The department was not formed yesterday. The Water Supply Enactment was passed 22 years ago, that’s an entire generation of Sabahans,” he said.

Yong, who successfully sued the department in a landmark 2019 case, said his research showed a pattern of mismanagement and institutional failure.

He proposed that the Sabah Water Supply Enactment 2003 be amended to formally dissolve the department and reconstitute a statutory body staffed by professionals with a clear mandate to resolve Sabah’s water supply issues. - July 19, 2025