LABUAN, July 12 — The Labuan Corporation (LC) has sought emergency assistance from Petronas Carigali and oil-and-gas experts to resolve the problem of leakages in the main pump that provides 85 per cent of water supply to consumers on the duty-free island here.
The water crisis attributed to pipe leakage is expected to be prolonged as the affected areas (for repair work) are flooded by the continuous inflow of water from other pipes (20 meters from the affected area) which are also experiencing leakages, causing difficulty to the three Labuan Water Department’s appointed contractors doing repair work.
LC chief executive officer Dr Fary Akmal Osman said assistance from the experts was needed in view of the difficulties faced by the contractors over the last six days.
“We are calling in experts from Petronas Carigali and the oil-and-gas sector, especially those involved in piping work and underwater welding to help us resolve the pumping pipe leakage as the affected area is flooded.
“We are now doing our best to work with the Water Department to lessen the water disruption to consumers by supplying water on daily basis,” she told reporters after visiting the site today.
She said the approved RM68-million allocation for the replacement of the more-than-30-year-old pipes spanning about 144 kilometres on the island next year has been rescheduled to this year due to the urgency.
“We will discuss with the Federal Territories Ministry, the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) and the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources to consider our request to reschedule the work to this year,” she said.
Residents of nearly 27 villages on the island have been experiencing water disruption since Tuesday, with some even opting to stay in hotels where there is still water supply.
The LC and Water Department have placed 43 static tanks with clean water in 35 locations in 27 villages and residential areas, but some consumers are still complaining about the inadequate supply of water. — Bernama
