BINTULU (March 22): The Sarawak government has been proactive in providing clean and treated water to all parts of Sarawak despite the many topographic challenges faced, said Minister of Utility and Telecommunication YB Dato Sri Haji Julaihi Haji Narawi.

He said this commitment was proven when the state government set aside a substantial allocation of RM4 billion to carry out various water supply projects throughout Sarawak.

“Sarawak is proactive in bringing changes in water management which is in line with this year’s World Water Day theme ‘Accelerating Change’.

“Our focus is on how to manage water supply in Sarawak for future needs,” he told reporters at a press conference after officiating at the state-level World Water Day 2023 celebration here yesterday.

He said the priority is to ensure people, especially those living in water-stressed areas, have access to clean and treated water supply.

Moving forward, he said the Sarawak government under his ministry is planning to merge the existing water operators; namely Sarawak Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB), Kuching Water Board, Sibu Water Board and Laku Management Sdn Bhd, into one single entity in the near future.

“At the same time, we will set up the Sarawak Water Authority, which will be responsible to monitor how we are going to manage our water resource and become a regulator in the future,” he said.

Laku Management Sdn Bhd hosted this year’s state-level World Water Day celebration.

The World Water Day is an annual celebration celebrated every March 22. This celebration was first introduced by the United Nations in 1993 because it realised the importance of water to life and the universe.

Julaihi, in his speech earlier, said various activities have been lined up including Laku Open Day at Nyabau water treatment plant.

He believes that from this programme, the community can see for themselves the management of treated water and at the same time be more responsible and appreciative of the importance of water for commercial and domestic use.

He said this year’s theme aims to encourage action and inspire positive change in the way Sarawak manages and uses water.

“This theme is relevant in the context of Sarawak, where we face many challenges related to water management. Sarawak is a fortunate region to be blessed with the highest annual rainfall in Malaysia.

“This water resource is what we need to fully appreciate. This water resource is not only treated and used as drinking water and our daily use, but also used to generate electricity through hydroelectric dams and also for other purposes of various sectors, including agriculture, environment, navigation, industry and domestic use,” he said.

Julaihi said the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) was introduced by the United Nations in 2015, and under SDG-6, the agenda is to ensure that all citizens have access to clean and safe water supply.

“After eight years of the introduction of the SDG-6 agenda, we are still a long way behind in achieving full water supply coverage, especially in rural areas,” he lamented.

According to him, as of 2022, water supply coverage in rural Sarawak was 67.2 per cent while water supply coverage throughout Sarawak was 83.7 per cent.

Sarawak, he added, is a vast region with a unique topography and this is one of the biggest challenges in the effort to achieve 100 per cent coverage for clean and treated water supply.

However, he said the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 which was introduced by Sarawak last year has helped the government to accelerate change and ensure full coverage of water supply will be achieved in 2030.

He added under the PCDS 2030, various initiatives have and will be implemented to improve the water supply system in Sarawak such as the implementation of the water grid system, Sarawak Alternative Water Supply off-grid system, Non-Revenue Water (NRW) reduction programme,

digitisation and modernisation of Sarawak’s water supply system, plans to set up a single water entity and water conservation.

Among those present at the event were Laku Management Sdn Bhd chairman Datuk Nelson Balang Rining, Deputy Ministers of Utilities and Telecommunications Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi and Datuk Liwan Lagang, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development Dato Majang Renggi, Jepak assemblyman Datuk Talib Zulpilip and Tanjung Batu assemblyman Johnny Pang Leong Ming.

URL Julaihi: Govt determined to provide clean, treated water to all (theborneopost.com)