Kota Kinabalu: Deputy Chief Minister III-cum-State Public Works Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya is confident that there is no more ongoing “centralised collection scheme” in the Sabah Water Department.
“I think it is no longer (happening). About that scheme, it is related to the ongoing case (trial) and let the court proceedings continue,” he told reporters after launching the Ministry’s Integrity Week, here, Monday.
He was responding to a question about the scheme where there were allegations that contractors were making “commission” payments to stakeholders within the Ministry.
In January, former Water Department Deputy Director Teo Chee Kong had testified in the ongoing water corruption trial that he had made such a collection from 1998 until September 2003. When Shahelmey clocked in on the first day as Public Works Minister on Jan 12, he had said that he would investigate the matter.
SPONSORED CONTENT Shell’s Access to Energy helps power lives of isolated communities in Sabah Kota Kinabalu: In 2017, Sabah Shell Petroleum Co Ltd (SSPC) launched Access to Energy (A2E), a Shell Social Investment programme aimed at providing affordable and continuous supply of electricity from renewable sources for communities who live without connection to the electricity grid. Read more As for the measures to minimise corrupt practices among departments and agencies, Shahelmey said there was a guideline, especially on procurement processes.
“As long as our officers fulfil and implement due diligence for the process, we can prevent incidents of power abuse,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sabah continues to improve its water services despite the fact that the State has yet to receive a RM320 million allocation from the Federal Government.
Shahelmey said a technical committee has already had two meetings to fine-tune the guidelines on channelling the money, the allocation of which had been approved by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last month.
“However, at the State level, we are still working on stabilising water supply, which I think people in Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran and Putatan (are benefiting from already),” he said.
Last month, Putajaya allocated the money to address short-term solutions for Sabah’s water issues which will cover 20 projects in nine districts in the State.
Those districts are Putatan, Tuaran, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Tawau, Lahad Datu, Sandakan and here.
It has been reported that the fund would be used to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) and also to replace old pipes and water pumps at various water treatment plants.
As for the Telibong II water plant, which is to cater to increasing water demand in the west coast, Shahelmey said he was hopeful that the physical work can start this year.
When completed, the plant would provide an additional 80 million litres of water to the State Capital daily.
Asked about the possibilities for motorists to claim damage compensation due to poor road conditions, Shahelmey said they could do so by lodging police reports and through court proceedings.
Earlier, Shahelmey said he hopes with the launching of the Integrity Week, the integrity work culture can be practised among staff under the Ministry.
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