The construction of the first centralised sewerage system in the Kuching city centre is expected to be able to raise the water quality in Sungai Sarawak to 60 per cent when the system is fully completed in June 2012.
State Housing and Urban Planning Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the construction of the system involved the building of a sewage treatment plant and a 64.5-kilometre drainage system costing about RM500 million for the first phase project.
“With the system in place, the problems of ‘black water’ from the sewer system and the ‘grey water’ discharged by the kitchens, bathrooms and laundry shops will no longer be channelled directly to the drains and subsequently the rivers, but instead will be treated first, and the system will be the first in Sarawak and its cost is substantial,” he told reporters after visiting the project site near the Satok Viaduct, here today.
He said three rivers in the Kuching city centre, namely Sungai Padungan, Sungai Bintangor and Sungai Maong were among the rivers that still faced the problem of poor water quality currently.
Abang Johari said the project, under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), was now almost 50 per cent completed and hoped that city dwellers would be patient in facing the problems faced throughout the construction period.
