LAWAS: The Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) has been urged to speed up measures to deal with water supply disruptions in Lawas, including coordinating the delivery of water using seven service centres to reduce inconvenience to residents and the business sector.

Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan expressed his disappointment in Lawas' prolonged water supply issue, although the directive to resolve the problem had been issued during his visit to the water intake site two months ago.

"I don't want the people to continue to suffer due to frequent water supply interruptions. This matter is very urgent and short-term measures need to be coordinated immediately," he said.

He said this when reviewing the progress of efforts to deal with the water supply problem in Lawas, on Saturday.

According to him, JBALB must arrange for the delivery of water supply through seven available service centres, giving priority to urban areas and critical locations that are affected.

In an effort to ensure that water intake operations run smoothly, the work to overcome the sand deposits problem is also enhanced through the use of floating excavators and long-arm excavators.

He also instructed that another floating excavator be provided and a floating pump installed in the near future to ensure that water intake could continue regardless of changes in the flow of the river.

For a long-term solution, the Sarawak Government has approved a project to increase water supply capacity by 50 million litres per day (MLD), including the construction of a new water intake and water treatment plant in the Sungai Pengalih area.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah stressed that JBALB must ensure that all measures ordered are implemented immediately, in addition to streamlining the coordination of operations to avoid water supply disruptions that continue to affect the lives of residents and economic activities in Lawas. -UKASnews