CHIEF Minister Chow Kon Yeow expressed confidence in the Penang Water Supply Corporation’s (PBAPP) expertise to efficiently carry out crucial maintenance work.
“Changing valves is quite routine for PBAPP as they have a lot of experience. However, the recovery of the water supply is what takes time as water needs to be taken from the Sungai Muda River through a 14km canal.
“During this time, we will also release the water from the Mengkuang Dam to shorten the waiting period,” Chow said during a press conference at New World Park Food City today.
Chow and his team visited several areas in the Padang Kota constituency this morning, namely the Kedah Road Flats, Taman Manggis, Jalan Irrawaddy and the New World Park Food City to check on the preparation of the additional water tanks.
Meanwhile, Chow said that the ongoing water cut is a scheduled one, which is totally different from the unscheduled water interruption that took place due to a pipe leakage at the bottom of Sungai Perai on Dec 19 last year, affecting some 200,000 water consumers.
Subsequent welding work on Dec 21 faced another leak, leading to further water interruption.
“The Sungai Perai incident was something that we cannot foresee, and the repair work has to be done 3.5 m below the water surface where visibility is zero.
“We had to call in specialist divers for the job.
“The current water interruption is a scheduled one, with consumers informed one month in advance and maintenance work preplanned,” Chow said in response to a question by a reporter.
The Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has to be temporarily shut down to replace two leaking control valves, each measuring 1.2m in diameter. Additionally, several other water repair works at 22 different locations are taking place.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud
Video by Law Suun Ting