Lo (centre) is being briefed on the proposed community project at Taman Wawasan in Jalan Arang.

KUCHING (March 9): The Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) is hoping that the state government could provide more funds to enable the council to improve all the dilapidated drains in its jurisdiction.

Its chairman Lo Khere Chiang said a lot of drains within the MPP jurisdiction need to be improved in order to address flash flood problem during heavy downpour.

“We have a lot of drains to be addressed and I hope we can have more money so we can improve all the dilapidated drains in our area.

“The dilapidated drains are one of the main causes of frequent flash flood in certain areas during heavy downpour,” he told reporters during a project site visit at Taman Wawasan in Jalan Arang here today.

Lo said he had also approached the state Drainage and Irrigation Department to assist MPP to construct a bigger monsoon drain along Jalan Datuk Amar Kalong Ningkan here.

He said the proposal had been made and hoped that the proposed project would be approved in the 12th Malaysia Plan.

He believed the construction of a bigger monsoon drain would mitigate flash flood problem in the area.

The Batu Kitang assemblyman said he would also be using his rural transformation programme (RTP) allocation to resolve some of the serious erosion problems in his constituency.

“I will use my RTP allocation to buy materials and I hope the community can come together and carry out the works through gotong-royong,” he said.

On the community project at Taman Wawasan, Lo said he had approved RM150,000 from his RTP allocation to implement it.

He said the Jalan Arang Community Association had asked that a shaded cemented place be built for the people to do simple exercise.

He said there was an initial proposal to build a shaded basketball court at the open space but upon consultation with local residents, they decided not to pursue with the proposal.

“The local residents are worried that if a shaded basketball court is built there, the noise from the sport activities will disturb their peace.

“Because of that, the proposal was put off. But after the community association chairman came to see me with the new proposal, I approved the funds for the construction of a shade over the cemented space.

“It’s going to be a lower shade, so basketball game cannot be played in the court; it’s only for exercise,” he said.