KUCHING: Kuching Water Board (KWB) is hoping to rectify the ‘large hole’ at Jalan Ang Cheng Ho here before Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan 31.
Its deputy general manager Moses Joseph said the hole appeared after the contractor of a pipe renewal project had burst the pipe without the board’s supervision.
“In our contract, the contractor was not supposed to work on public holidays or Sundays. But they did on Jan 14, which was a public holiday and we were not available to monitor the work,” he told reporters after a joint meeting with Kuching South City Council (MBKS), state Road Safety Department, state Sewerage Services Department and community leaders here yesterday.
Moses said the board also hoped to complete the entire pipe renewal project in two months. He, however, was quick to add that meeting the deadline was “subject to good weather”.
The pipe renewal project covers Foochow Road No.1, Three Hills Park, Jalan Seladah, Jalan Kempes, Phoning Garden, CityOne Shopping Mall area, Jalan Kwong Lee Bank, Jalan Ang Cheng Ho and Jalan Kedandi.
He affirmed all digging works had been completed except for Jalan Ang Cheng Ho and Jalan Kedandi. Besides, the board will need another two months to do road reinstatements.
Meanwhile, MBKS mayor Dato James Chan said it had been a practice that KWB did the digging and replacing the pipes while the council was responsible for road reinstatement.
“This is how things have been done even before I came in as the mayor. But for this particular project, we did not know the scope of it and discovered later it would be different from the normal reinstatement.
“Therefore, we had a meeting with KWB last December to sort things out. As it is a big project and our hands are tied, we discussed with KWB, (in) which agreed they would do the road reinstatement.”
Since the work at Jalan Ang Cheng Ho went slightly out of expectation, MBKS has been taking the blame from mostly businessmen in the area.
For any complaints on the pipe renewal project, call KWB hotline at 082-222333.
