KOTA KINABALU – Sabah rural development minister Datuk Jahid Jahim has confirmed that work will begin tomorrow on a new suspension bridge at Kg Mansiang in Tulid, where schoolchildren have been forced to cross a river by treading on a water pipeline.
He said RM100,000 has been approved for the Tulid state constituency for the purpose. He expressed hope that it will resolve the problem of villagers and pupils in Kg Mansiang who have been climbing onto the water pipe to cross Sg Biah.
This comes after a video clip of pupils clinging to the water pipe to cross the river went viral on social media recently.
Kejadian di Kg Mansiang Baru, Sabah.
— luqmanlong (@luqmanlong) July 28, 2022
Sungai deras macam tu, kalau pandai berenang pun bahaya.
Gaji Ketua Menteri Sabah baru naik dari RM23,585 kepada RM33,033 sebulan.
Tapi anak-anak Sabah kena panjat paip lintas sungai. Apa nak jadi ni? pic.twitter.com/Ozvr8Z6VpH
“After a video that had gone viral yesterday, (we) have visited the site with Tulid rep Flovia Ng, and personnel from the Keningau district office and Sook district office to identify the location for the new suspension bridge.
“The project will start immediately tomorrow. I can conclude that this case has been handled well and solved accordingly,” he told The Vibes today.
Jahid explained that allocations such as the one for Kg Mansiang are channelled to district offices based on the respective assemblymen’s submissions.
Asked why the allocation was delayed, Jahid said: “I think, what is important is that there is action to solve (the problem)… hope all will go smoothly”.
Astro Awani had reported that the villagers of Kg Mansiang had claimed to have been promised a new bridge in April. However, Ng, who is also Sabah’s community development and people’s well-being assistant minister, denied having made that promise.
She said she had visited the site in January this year and told the villagers that she would use her assemblyman’s fund to build a new bridge, but she did not say when this would be carried out.
Ng also told The Vibes that during her visit, she only saw that the villagers were using a low river crossing (LRC), a bridge that would be flooded and not be usable during heavy rain.
“I knew that the LRC was a problem for the villagers. I have tried my best – via various methods – to get the allocation for a new suspension bridge.
“But I did not know that they would use the pipe as a bridge. The video was taken after a heavy rain – the pupils were heading home from school. They did not (normally) use the pipe to go to school,” she explained, adding that she also learned of the matter after the video had gone viral.
Ng also confirmed that there is no alternative route to cross the river for the villagers of Kg Mansiang other than the LRC. This especially affects pupils who want to get to SK Menawo.
She said that the problem started many years ago, even before Tulid was carved out as a new state constituency in 2019.
“The allocation that I have requested was only approved on June 23, by the Sabah Rural Development Ministry through the state assemblymen’s 2022 allocation,” she added.
Ng received heavy criticism from netizens after the video had gone viral. Many were angered at seeing children risking their lives to cross the river, saying that the government was slow to act.
Prior to 2019, Tulid was part of the Sook state constituency.
It is within the Pensiangan parliamentary constituency in the interior divisions of Keningau and Nabawan in Sabah .
Yesterday, in commenting on this issue, Sabah finance minister II Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun had hit out at salaried civil servants who failed to make sure bridges are properly built and repaired, saying they were putting the lives of rural children and adults at risk.
He lamented that such conditions are sometimes not reported, but grab attention when a video or photo is taken by someone and the entire government is blamed. – The Vibes, July 29, 2022
