Liew (accompanied by Fung) at the exact site of Package 3, standing among armour rocks and pointing to the abandoned squatter houses on the other side of the river. Their occupants have since been relocated elsewhere.
TAWAU: Tawau MP Datuk Christina Liew is optimistic that the district’s decades-old flood woes will soon be a thing of the past if implementation of all the four packages of the Tawau Flood Mitigation Project can be completed under the 12th Malaysia Plan as a holistic solution.
She said work is underway under Package 3 to widen the river-mouth of Sungai Tawau at Kg Titingan in the Apas state constituency here.
“According to the Drainage and Irrigation Department (JPS), the river-mouth was too small. Previously, it was only 20 metres wide and now steps are being taken to widen it up to 80 metres.
“In this way, I am told, the remedial measure will hasten the river flow to the sea, and thus eliminate the bottleneck (that is, the narrow river-mouth) that causes flash floods to occur,” Liew said in a statement after inspecting the site of Package 3 in the vicinity of the river-mouth on Thursday.
She was accompanied by the Tawau Parliamentary Chief Liaison Officer, Fung Thin Yein.
The Tawau MP noted that the scope of the project included outsourcing for armour rocks that form the structure to protect the river-bank from erosion.
Package 4 involves upgrading of Jambatan Apas (Apas Bridge) at Mile 2, Jalan Apas.
‘I understand that the length of the existing bridge is too short to fit the new design for the bridge which follows the new alignment of Sungai Tawau. Which is why the bridge needs to be upgraded,” Liew said, adding she learned that Packages 3 and 4 (under one contract) are scheduled to be completed in January 2024.
However, she expressed concern that Packages 1 and 2 (under one contract) that entail deepening and widening of a stretch of Sungai Tawau have yet to be awarded.
“We don’t know when these two packages will get off the ground. I therefore urge the Federal Government to expedite their implementation through the Ministry of Environment and Water as a total solution to the perennial flood problem plaguing Tawau,” the MP added.
