KOTA KINABALU Member of Parliament Dr. Hiew King Cheu raised the question to the Minister of Agriculture regarding the proposed irrigation dam in Kg. Tambatuan, Kota Belud. He asked whether the dam will be built to facilitate the irrigation scheme for the padi field and what is the cost of the project. Since there is a wide spread objection to the dam project from the local community, why the government still insist to continue the said project.
The government emphasized and guaranteed on food production by having the main focus on the three sectors like rice production, aqua-culture and live stock production. On the rice production it is compulsory to increase the production. An estimation is done that Sabah must produce at least 4%, Sarawak 9% and West Malaysia 87% in all new areas for rice production. We must begin with the improvement of irrigation in the two states to enhance the rice production.
To achieve that the government through the Agriculture Development Master Plan Study has identified an area of 8,000 hectares in the Kota Belud district. Sabah can only be one of the rice producing state developed to produce rice when the area is increase to 10,000 hectares and can plant two crops in a year. This can only be possible when the water source of supply is upgraded and enough.
To support this plan, the Agriculture Ministry is looking at the possibility and the environmental impact on the dam proposed for the Sg. Kedamaian to provide water to the rice field irrigation, domestic use, industries, flood control, and even to generate hydro-power electricity for the Kota Belud district.
The project at the moment is still under feasibility study stage, environmental assessment, and the social impact carried out by the appointed consultants. The project can only be started when all the requirement are satisfied and met. The cost of the dam is estimated around RM470 million.
Sabah DAP has received many complaints from the Kampong folks in and around Kg. Tambatuan, Kota Belud, the site of the proposed dam is going to be built. The people there has refused the dam to be built there and don’t want their kampongs to be moved and ancestors burial ground be destroyed. They have their planted food staff, live stock and houses here for generations, and this is where they live and their traditional home ground.
Dr. Hiew viewed the answer given by the Minister of Agriculture as not reasonable and not logical. We all know the dam costing RM470 million is a huge expenditure of the tax-payers’ money, and why build a dam of this size when the rivers in Kota Belud never dry up, even in long drought season. The Jelapang Padi (rice bow) in Kota Belud is in the area where a few rivers flow through, and the rivers supply the irrigation need for the rice fields now. Some higher ground may not get the water due to no pumping and pipeline system. The fields are having a traditional drain feed system. The water can not climb hills.
Dr. Hiew said it is much cheaper to use a small amount of money to provide pumping stations next to the rivers to pump water up to the higher grounds through pipelines to flood the fields, and the construction time will much shorter when compared to the dam construction that taken years.
This method will be effective and fast to achieve good production of rice. He personally has visited the fields in Kota Belud many times and had discussed with the rice planters on their problems. The water is not their only problems, and they have other problems like roads, drainage, subsidies, milling, land preparation, no land to plant, not enough government aids to open up new fields, machineries and manpower etc..
Dr. Hiew urges the government to stop wasting the huge sum of money on the Tambatuan dam and concentrate on doing something more positive on the ground to immediately intensify the upgrading work on the irrigation, drainage, infrastructure and subsidies. To achieve food security and full food production, the government has totally failed, and the people only hear voices with no action. For a simple example, just to build a short simple road in Kota Belud took many years to complete.
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