FLOOD: KAMPUNG PENGAKALAN BUKIT FARAM, KINABATANGAN UNINHABITABLE - BUNG MOKTAR

28 JAN 2021

KINABATANGAN: Residents of Kampung Pengkalan Bukit Garam near here have been advised to shift elsewhere as the village is no longer deemed suitable to be occupied due to the frequent floods.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who is also the state’s Works Minister said the government had provided a new site to house the villagers, however, some residents have refused to relocate, putting them at risk of facing floods every time it rained heavily.

"This matter has been decided by the District Disaster Management Committee and Kinabatangan District Council (but) some residents still feel the village is safe to occupy," he said in a statement here yesterday.

Bung Moktar, who is also Kinabatangan MP said houses in the village were also not orderly, and their position near Sungai Kinabatangan often left them prone to flood problems, especially when the water level in the river was high.

He said he will be meeting the villagers again to explain the matter and provide them with the best suggestion for their safety and wellbeing.

Meanwhile, Lamag Community Development leader Abu Bakar Gapar said seven of the 69 families in the village had been evacuated to a relief centre at the village hall after their homes were flooded on Saturday (Jan 23).

He said apart from Kampung Pengkalan Bukit Garam, nine other villages were affected by the floods in Kinabatangan involving 220 families, while the situation was currently improving with water-levels receding. -Bernama