KUALA LUMPUR – The federal government can assist Sabah with loans and grants for projects to solve its water supply crisis, but the Sabah state government must take responsibility for water theft, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadillah (Petra Jaya-GPS), who is also energy transition and water transformation minister, said Putrajaya has given grants to Sabah to replace old water pipes to reduce its current non-revenue water (NRW) rate of 60%.
However, he said water theft still continued by those using illegal pipe extensions.
“The high NRW is caused by not only old water pipes, but also illegal extensions. The Sabah government must act on this,” Fadillah said during question time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was responding to Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (Kinabatangan-BN), who asked about the federal government’s plans to address Sabah’s water supply crisis.
Bung Moktar said even though the federal government is not fully responsible for water supply in Sabah, the Sabah government was at a “dead end” in solving the crisis.
Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Kota Belud-Warisan) also chimed in, describing Sabah’s water supply as a “serious crisis”, asking how much budget was needed to resolve the problems.
Fadillah answered that the overall allocation for Sabah’s water supply is RM2.6 billion in the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), including direct funding and loans.
“The priority of the projects is decided by the Sabah government. Currently, we have started four new projects (RM300 million), and 11 projects are in progress.
“Out of the 11 projects, the main issue is the upgrading of the Telibong water treatment plant, which, upon completion, would solve 80% of the water supply problem from Tuaran to Kota Kinabalu, including Universiti Malaysia Sabah,” he said.
Fadillah also said the Works Ministry’s Public Works Department and the Sabah Water Department had formed a task force that submitted a notice of change to the Economy Ministry, now pending approval.
“We target receiving additional allocation by the end of March (upon approval by the Economy Ministry), and then in April, we can execute our projects, including the installation of pipes along the Pan Borneo Highway,” he added.
Earlier, Fadillah told the Dewan Rakyat that the federal government had, on September 27, 2023, approved RM300 million in loans for Sabah to solve its water supply issue.
Out of this budget, four projects have been approved under the Fourth Rolling Plan under the 12MP, amounting to RM200 million for short-term solutions.
Additionally, the Sabah government has approved RM163.55 million under the Fourth Rolling Plan for project continuation.
“For long-term solutions, the Sabah government can apply under the coming rolling plan to solve the water supply issue in Sabah,” Fadillah said. – March 6, 2024