Malaysia: Plans to upgrade Congok dam to resolve water woes

NABILA AHMAD The Star 27 Jul 16;

JOHOR BARU: The state government hopes to upgrade the Congok dam and increase its capacity to allow it to hold more water and address the issue of water disruption in certain areas.

Johor Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said that they hope to start on the upgrading works by the end of this year.

“Our state water regulatory body (Bakaj) is already doing a feasibility study including identifying the sources of water and the areas that will be affected,” he said, adding that at the federal level, the necessary documents and tender process was ongoing.

As to the cost of the project, he said that it has yet to be finalised.

Hasni was speaking to reporters during a press conference after attending the Volt-Tech programme organised by engineering students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) on Monday.

The Congok dam supplies water to Mersing.

He stressed that the present rainy season was “helping” to ensure all the dams and water treatment plants statewide were operating without any disruption.

“We hope to address the issue at the Sungai Layang dam through our RM100mil water transfer project which will be ready next year,” he said, adding that the issue of water shortage at the Sg Lebam dam was addressed through the channelling of water via the raw water supply project (PAMER) from the Petronas multi-billion ringgit Pengerang Integrated Complex.

During the event, a total of 114 Form Five students who are doing a course in electrical and electronic engineering participated in the four-day seminar.

Students from SMK Kuala Lumpur, SMT Alor Setar, SMT Bukit Piatu, SMT Johor Baru, SMT Kuantan and others attended the seminar as a preparation for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination.