KOTA KINABALU – Promises made in the 15th general election (GE15) last November have come back to haunt Pakatan Harapan’s Mustapha Sakmud, the Sepanggar MP and deputy human resources minister.
Two billboards his campaign erected in GE15 last year promised to resolve water supply problems and poor roads, but voters in the constituency are still waiting for these pledges to be fulfilled.
Things have come to a head for residents, prompting Mustapha to release a statement yesterday urging for calm after a group threatened to riot at the Sabah Water Department head office.
The beleaguered MP said they should hold a dialogue with the Water Department instead.
Water supply problems are not new in Sepanggar, and neither are the traffic quotes. Locals said road issues have lasted for about six years, while water supply worsened about two years ago.
Although the problems were present before Mustapha was elected, he is nevertheless reminded to keep his promises.
Tempers are especially flaring now, as Muslims observe the fasting month.
Mustapha’s attempt to address these problems was to hold a town hall on March 11 at the Institut Latihan Perindustrian in Sepanggar.
Some attendees told The Vibes that the outcome of the session did not provide any solution.
Even worse, there seemed to be a lack of coordination between the MP and the Water Department, which before the town hall, disconnected water pipes in Suang Parai, triggering a protest among some villagers in the same area.
Suang Parai is located behind the 1Borneo Hypermall and comprises several villages housing around 900 families, including many fishermen.
After the disconnection exercise on March 9, village folk came out to voice their unhappiness, stressing that they were consumers who paid the Water Department for supply.
“What we want now is access to water. For the past close to three months we have been buying mineral water and to do so, we have to drive to the nearest gas station.
“Old people, mothers and children are facing difficulties, they don’t have cars and the majority of the folk here are those from the poor income group. We can’t afford to buy mineral water each day,” said a villager, Iskandar Zulkarnain, who added that some villagers had lodged a police report over the matter.
Another villager, Ali Sabtoo Durasit, said he has resorted to bringing his family to a relative’s house to shower and do their laundry.
“We had been doing this for two months already. We can no longer stand this problem,” he told The Vibes.
Sabah Public Works Minister Datuk Shahelmy Yahya, when contacted, said he is looking into improvements to the Water Department’s delivery system, which might include the possibility of a revamp.
“I’m the current minister of works and the Water Department is one of the departments under my ministry. Of course, I would give serious attention to it,” he said.
In January, Shahelmy instructed the state Water Department to prepare a cabinet paper to resolve the water woes in Kota Kinabalu and Putatan.
He noted the obvious water supply deficit in these areas, where current demand stood at 250 million litres per day (MLD) while production is 235 MLD from the Moyog and Kasigui water treatment plants located in Penampang.
Plans to address the situation would include increasing the existing plants’ capacity to produce another 5 MLD, as well as reducing the amount of non-revenue water from 38% to at least around 25% in these areas.
As for Sepanggar’s traffic woes, several residents complained that road diversions are suddenly imposed without prior warnings by contractors doing road works.
A resident from a university apartment who only wished to be named Zura told The Vibes this was causing endless road problems in the area.
“Morning traffic is always bad and pretty dangerous. There’s always a surprise road diversion and drivers suddenly become unfamiliar with the road, especially the stretch in front of Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Now, there are so many sharp turns and confusing road divisions,” she said. – The Vibes, April 1, 2023
