RM2 Million Arrears Will Leave Sg Asap Folks Without Treated Water, Come Dec 16

By Edward Subeng Stephen

BELAGA, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Come Dec 16, about 2,000 Orang Ulu residents in the Sungai Asap Resettlement Scheme near the Bakun Hydro Dam project might find their treated water supply disconnected.

This is the ultimatum issued by the Bintulu Public Works Department's water supply division over their RM2 million in arrears which they had failed to settle.The arrears date back to 1998, the year when the residents first moved in.According to the department's divisional engineer, Goh Soon Boon, the residents collectively owed the government a sum of about RM2 million."We have to take action, otherwise the bills will continue accumulating," he said when contacted by Bernama Monday.

Goh said only between 10 and 20 per cent of the folks from the 15 longhouses had been paying their bills regularly.So far, he said he had not received any appeal over the department's decision to disconnect the water supply, from either the residents or their leaders.Goh said his department had made arrangements for the people in the scheme to settle their bills with the SESCO (Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation) office in the area, instead of them having to drive to Bintulu, about 75km away.

Meanwhile, local leader Jack Paran, 51, from Uma Kelab (longhouse), claimed that all 15 longhouse chiefs in the area had recently met officials from the department, LAKU Management Sdn Bhd( a wholly-owned state government agency to supply portable water and collect revenue from here, Miri and Limbang and others.

"Despite having requested the government to scrap the unsettled bills since 1998, we are sad and disappointed that a decision had been made," he said."With the Christmas season around the corner, where a few thousands working away from the scheme would be returning home and a wedding or two would be planned in December, I will feel very sorry for them."And, what if we have to mourn the death of someone in the community after Dec 16?," he asked.

Jack said he sympathised with the 20 Punan families from the Punan Talun longhouse in the scheme."When the supply is discontinued as scheduled, they may be forced to return to the jungle."As it is now, about two families enjoy power supply as the rest cannot afford to pay for the monthly bills," he noted.He said compared to the other Orang Ulu groups like the Kayan or the Kenyah, the Punan could not simply catch up economically.

"They cannot even catch up, even if you give them agricultural projects to provide income to sustain themselves," he said.Another leader, former councillor Laing Lerong, 68, hoped the government could come up with an amicable solution to their predicament."We do not want to pick up any quarrel with the government. We just hope it can sympathise with us, as not everyone can settle their outstanding bills at one go," he said.

Penghulu Saging Bit, of Uma Belor, appealed to the government for a deferment or to settle the arrears in installments or perhaps, scrap the arrears.He hoped the government would consider their problem fairly as they had sacrificed much for the sake of the country.Most of the residents, he said, were poor and did not have regular income."We have made sacrifices to make way for the RM3.2 billion hydro project which is the biggest in the nation and scheduled for completion in June 2010.

"We hope the government could reciprocrate," he said.

-- BERNAMA