KUCHING, May 18 — Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh has urged the state government to refer to the former flood mitigation plan for Sibu to address flooding issues in the town.
The Bawang Assan assemblyman said the plan was carried out earlier by the then federal Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, which at that time was headed by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
“The implementation work was to be carried out in four phases. Phase 1 and Phase 2 had been successfully carried out and proven effective and successful.
“Unfortunately, because of the changing political situation in Sibu and also because of the federal minister in-charge, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah was transferred to another ministry, Phase 3 and Phase 4 works were not carried out. Otherwise, Sibu’s flooding issue would have been, to a large extent, solved,” he said when debating the motion of thanks on Head of State’s address in the august House today.
Wong felt that the state government should refer to the old Sibu Flood Master Plan while expressing confidence that the entire master plan would still be in the safe keeping of the federal ministry.
He suggested that the state government re-visit the flood mitigation plan and study it first before embarking on something new.
“Or we can consult Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah and seek his advice. I remember, in those days, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah paid close attention and had devoted a great deal of time and energy into solving flood problem in Sibu.
“He would have full knowledge as to how Sibu flooding issue can be best handled,” he said.
On the Bukit Assek redevelopment plan, Wong opined that this had been a long outstanding issue.
He recollected that from 2002 to 2010, the then Sibu BN Wawasan Team led by the late Datuk Robert Lau and himself had a master plan drawn up by a consultant.
He said they had then gone to the ground doing door-to-door survey and fact findings, adding: “We tried hard for many months. In the end, the whole plan had to be aborted.”
According to Wong, the land and house owners in the affected areas demanded very high and totally unrealistic prices if they were made to vacate the areas.
Because of this, he said neither the state government nor the private sector would find it feasible to carry out the redevelopment of the Bukit Assek area.
He said the BN Wawasan Team had to abandon the redevelopment plan instead.
“Hopefully this time around, with more political clout, stronger political will and more resources, SUPP leaders with the backing from the premier himself will be able to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of redeveloping Bukit Assek area,” he added.
Wong said in recent months, SUPP leaders had organised delegation visits to Singapore, Australia and Holland to do fact-findings.
He said after visiting Singapore, Deputy Premier Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian had on Oct 12 last year said that the Sarawak government had instructed Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA) to engage a Singapore Constituency Firm to come up with a development plan which is to include 500 acres of land in Bukit Assek area, of which 50 acres of land would be turned into a lake serving as a reservoir to contain excessive water.
Subsequently after visiting Holland, he said Dr Sim said the redevelopment of Bukit Assek would be patterned after Gouda town in Holland of which a plan would be drawn up.
“They said they could one day turn Bukit Assek and Sibu into a city to look like Amsterdam of Holland. Bukit Assek assemblyman also spoke of big and rapid development for Bukit Assek in the next five years.
“People of Sibu would like to know the time table and the manner by which the redevelopment is to take place,” Wong added. — Borneo Post
