KUCHING, May 17, 2020 - Minister of Utilities Datuk Sri Dr Stephen Rundi today explained the Sarawak government is aggressively implementing water and electricity supply projects to improve the existing services as well as to increase coverage to the rural areas of Sarawak.
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| Datuk Sri Stephen Rundie |
He said the ministry’s policies are to ensure quality, reliable, efficient and affordable water and electricity supplies to the people of Sarawak.
He said the Ministry is committed to increase the coverage of both water and electricity supply to 100 percent by the year 2025.
He added the state government has developed the water supply and rural electricity supply master plans to chart the implementation of these utilities in a holistic and systematic manner for the benefit of the rakyat.
“These plans will cater for the changing needs of the communities for access to these basic utilities of water and electricity supplies.
“For water supply, the Sarawak Water Supply Master Plan and Water Grid is a holistic approach for sustainable development of the raw and treated water facilities.
“The strategies include the implementation of water grid, utilization of the downstream of HEP Dam as a source of raw water as well as other raw water source development, implementation of Sarawak Alternative Rural Water Supply (SAWAS) Programme, improving the reliability of water supply system, implementing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Programme, and embracing modernization and digitalization.
‘The rural electricity master plan aims to supply through various connection schemes to achieve full 24-hour coverage for all rural communities throughout Sarawak.
“Rural communities with accessibility will be connected to the power grid system,” Rundie said.
He added communities in remote parts of Sarawak without accessibility will be supplied through stand-alone renewable solar or mini-hydro system under the Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (SARES).
He said the water grid proposal covers both raw and treated water.
He said the raw water grid will involve river water abstraction, raw water basin transfer, new water supply dams as well as harnessing water downstream of the hydro-electric power (HEP) dams through natural rivers and canals.
“The proposed treated water grid will traverse Sarawak from the south to the north, linking the water treatment facilities along the way to form a continuous water grid.
“New pipelines will be laid to fill the existing missing links, improving connectivity and resilience of the water supply infrastructure.
“At the same time, existing undersized trunk mains will have to be upgraded too.
“The Water Grid will be implemented in phases to minimize disruption to existing services and inconvenience to households, while ensuring that new infrastructures are completed timely to meet the increasing future water demand.
“The proposed new water supply schemes and the water grid identified in the Master Plan will be put forward for funding for implementation under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP).
“With the government's aggressive push for digital economy, digitalization such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is innovatively adopted in the water and electricity supply services.
“By increasing the digital consumer base and promoting digital engagement and interaction, consumers can benefit from enhanced and added value services.
“Digitalized Interactive applications include digital bills, online payment and services applications, automated leakage and interruption alerts and one utility bill.
“As more areas will be covered digitally, the water and power supply authorities can capitalize on the deployment of remote sensing and on-the-ground technologies to make data analytics as part of their decision-making process.
“The government’s strategy to increase rural water supply coverage includes extension of water supply mains and implementation of the SAWAS programme, to ensure the rural Rakyat get their basic utility of water supply.
“The water main extensions will be along existing roads that can be connected and supplied from the existing water supply systems.
“The implementation of road projects will therefore facilitate the extension of water mains to more rural communities.
“The SAWAS programme is to provide safe and reliable water for remote or isolated rural communities that cannot be connected to the existing water supply systems.
“A total estimated cost of RM135 million has been allocated for the next phase of SAWAS programme under Projek Rakyat.
“The implementation of SAWAS programme will contribute towards achieving our target of full potable water supply coverage by 2025.
“Where feasible, SAWAS will be synchronised with the SARES project as electrical power is required for the operation of most of the standalone water supply system as part of the integrated plan for rural communities.
“The overall water supply coverage in Sarawak has increased over the years from 80% in 2015 to about 82.6% in 2019 while the rural water supply coverage has increased from 59% in 2015 to about 64.8% in 2019.
“It is projected that the water supply coverage will increase to 67.7% for rural areas and to 84% overall for Sarawak, by the year 2020.
“For electricity supply, the overall coverage increased from 92% in 2015 to 97% in 2019 with rural coverage increased from 83% to 93%.
“By 2020, the overall electricity supply coverage will be 99% with rural supply coverage projected at 97%. It is planned to increase both utility supplies coverage to 100% by the year 2025.
“In the last two years, much progress has been made in providing electricity and water supplies for Sarawak, particularly for the rural communities.
“This is made possible with the large funding provided for the implementation of Projek Rakyat, centred on the rural folks,” Rundie said.
He said the state government has initially provided an allocation of RM5.17 billion for the development and provision of utility services in the rural areas, with RM2.8 billion for water supply and RM2.37 billion for electricity supply.
He said the initial allocation of RM2.8 billion for water supply is to implement the immediate strategy of improving and upgrading the existing water supply systems throughout Sarawak.
“This allocation has now been increased to RM4 billion to enable the implementation of several major water supply projects to be initiated now so that they can be implemented in the 12th Malaysia Plan.
“A total of about RM2.55 billion for 234 water supply projects, to address the issues in water stressed areas, has been awarded, with 116 projects already completed and 118 projects under construction.
“For rural electricity supply projects, close to RM1.2 billion worth of projects have been awarded for implementation with more projects to be awarded in the coming months.
“Most projects are expected to complete by the end of 2020, with some projects having wider scope of works spilling over to 2021,” he said, adding that the state government is on track to achieve projected rural water and electricity coverage by 2020.
He said that the government has allocated RM5.17 billion in the 11th Malaysia Plan and agreed to increase the allocation for water supply projects from the original RM2.8 billion to RM4.0 billion, in its commitment to provide water supply to the rakyat.
Under the 12th Malaysia Plan, he also indicated that his Ministry had submitted several strategies on increasing coverage and systems improvements to ensure 100% water and electricity supply coverage as well as provision of quality, reliable and affordable water and electricity supplies.
He stressed that the strategy for development of infrastructure in Sarawak is based on a holistic approach, without neglecting any sector, by taking into consideration of all the sectors such as road, public transport, utilities, agriculture, commercial and industrial sectors.
KUCHING, May 17, 2020 - Minister of Utilities Datuk Sri Dr Stephen Rundi today explained the Sarawak government is aggressively implementing water and electricity supply projects to improve the existing services as well as to increase coverage to the rural areas of Sarawak.
He said the ministry’s policies are to ensure quality, reliable, efficient and affordable water and electricity supplies to the people of Sarawak.
He said the Ministry is committed to increase the coverage of both water and electricity supply to 100 percent by the year 2025.
He added the state government has developed the water supply and rural electricity supply master plans to chart the implementation of these utilities in a holistic and systematic manner for the benefit of the rakyat.
“These plans will cater for the changing needs of the communities for access to these basic utilities of water and electricity supplies.
“For water supply, the Sarawak Water Supply Master Plan and Water Grid is a holistic approach for sustainable development of the raw and treated water facilities.
“The strategies include the implementation of water grid, utilization of the downstream of HEP Dam as a source of raw water as well as other raw water source development, implementation of Sarawak Alternative Rural Water Supply (SAWAS) Programme, improving the reliability of water supply system, implementing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Programme, and embracing modernization and digitalization.
‘The rural electricity master plan aims to supply through various connection schemes to achieve full 24-hour coverage for all rural communities throughout Sarawak.
“Rural communities with accessibility will be connected to the power grid system,” Rundie said.
He added communities in remote parts of Sarawak without accessibility will be supplied through stand-alone renewable solar or mini-hydro system under the Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (SARES).
He said the water grid proposal covers both raw and treated water.
He said the raw water grid will involve river water abstraction, raw water basin transfer, new water supply dams as well as harnessing water downstream of the hydro-electric power (HEP) dams through natural rivers and canals.
“The proposed treated water grid will traverse Sarawak from the south to the north, linking the water treatment facilities along the way to form a continuous water grid.
“New pipelines will be laid to fill the existing missing links, improving connectivity and resilience of the water supply infrastructure.
“At the same time, existing undersized trunk mains will have to be upgraded too.
“The Water Grid will be implemented in phases to minimize disruption to existing services and inconvenience to households, while ensuring that new infrastructures are completed timely to meet the increasing future water demand.
“The proposed new water supply schemes and the water grid identified in the Master Plan will be put forward for funding for implementation under the Twelfth Malaysia Plan (12MP).
“With the government's aggressive push for digital economy, digitalization such as the Internet of Things (IoT) is innovatively adopted in the water and electricity supply services.
“By increasing the digital consumer base and promoting digital engagement and interaction, consumers can benefit from enhanced and added value services.
“Digitalized Interactive applications include digital bills, online payment and services applications, automated leakage and interruption alerts and one utility bill.
“As more areas will be covered digitally, the water and power supply authorities can capitalize on the deployment of remote sensing and on-the-ground technologies to make data analytics as part of their decision-making process.
“The government’s strategy to increase rural water supply coverage includes extension of water supply mains and implementation of the SAWAS programme, to ensure the rural Rakyat get their basic utility of water supply.
“The water main extensions will be along existing roads that can be connected and supplied from the existing water supply systems.
“The implementation of road projects will therefore facilitate the extension of water mains to more rural communities.
“The SAWAS programme is to provide safe and reliable water for remote or isolated rural communities that cannot be connected to the existing water supply systems.
“A total estimated cost of RM135 million has been allocated for the next phase of SAWAS programme under Projek Rakyat.
“The implementation of SAWAS programme will contribute towards achieving our target of full potable water supply coverage by 2025.
“Where feasible, SAWAS will be synchronised with the SARES project as electrical power is required for the operation of most of the standalone water supply system as part of the integrated plan for rural communities.
“The overall water supply coverage in Sarawak has increased over the years from 80% in 2015 to about 82.6% in 2019 while the rural water supply coverage has increased from 59% in 2015 to about 64.8% in 2019.
“It is projected that the water supply coverage will increase to 67.7% for rural areas and to 84% overall for Sarawak, by the year 2020.
“For electricity supply, the overall coverage increased from 92% in 2015 to 97% in 2019 with rural coverage increased from 83% to 93%.
“By 2020, the overall electricity supply coverage will be 99% with rural supply coverage projected at 97%. It is planned to increase both utility supplies coverage to 100% by the year 2025.
“In the last two years, much progress has been made in providing electricity and water supplies for Sarawak, particularly for the rural communities.
“This is made possible with the large funding provided for the implementation of Projek Rakyat, centred on the rural folks,” Rundie said.
He said the state government has initially provided an allocation of RM5.17 billion for the development and provision of utility services in the rural areas, with RM2.8 billion for water supply and RM2.37 billion for electricity supply.
He said the initial allocation of RM2.8 billion for water supply is to implement the immediate strategy of improving and upgrading the existing water supply systems throughout Sarawak.
“This allocation has now been increased to RM4 billion to enable the implementation of several major water supply projects to be initiated now so that they can be implemented in the 12th Malaysia Plan.
“A total of about RM2.55 billion for 234 water supply projects, to address the issues in water stressed areas, has been awarded, with 116 projects already completed and 118 projects under construction.
“For rural electricity supply projects, close to RM1.2 billion worth of projects have been awarded for implementation with more projects to be awarded in the coming months.
“Most projects are expected to complete by the end of 2020, with some projects having wider scope of works spilling over to 2021,” he said, adding that the state government is on track to achieve projected rural water and electricity coverage by 2020.
He said that the government has allocated RM5.17 billion in the 11th Malaysia Plan and agreed to increase the allocation for water supply projects from the original RM2.8 billion to RM4.0 billion, in its commitment to provide water supply to the rakyat.
Under the 12th Malaysia Plan, he also indicated that his Ministry had submitted several strategies on increasing coverage and systems improvements to ensure 100% water and electricity supply coverage as well as provision of quality, reliable and affordable water and electricity supplies.
He stressed that the strategy for development of infrastructure in Sarawak is based on a holistic approach, without neglecting any sector, by taking into consideration of all the sectors such as road, public transport, utilities, agriculture, commercial and industrial sectors.
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