ENGKELILI: The gravity water supply project undertaken by the Department of Mineral and Geoscience of Malaysia (JMG) at Rumah Baying, Kumpang Langir, Lubok Antu, Sri Aman has benefited more than 250 people in Rh Baying and Rh Kili.
The RM98,000 project was channelled by Jabatan Bekalan Air Luar Bandar (JBALB)Sarawak to JMG Malaysia Sarawak and supervised by the JMG directly.
It consisted of supplies, transportation and delivery of pipes and building materials and executed based on the “gotong royong” (mutual assist) concept.
Under the project, a dam was built not less than 1,000 metres from the longhouses.
The water can be drunk directly by the local community as the system has built-in features which include a filter column and ultra-membrane to filter and clean the water supply automatically.
The filtered water is stored in a storage tank before being discharged to the longhouses.
The launch of the gravity water supply system was officiated recently by Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang.
In his speech, he thanked JMG and hoped that other areas would also get the same project so that all settlements here would have clean water supply.
He also said that the federal government should pay heed to this issue instead of playing politics here for the sake of progress and wellbeing of the people, especially those who lived in the rural areas.
Also present were the Deputy Director of JMG Hilary Muyan Nicholas Thomas, JMG officials and staff.
In his speech, Nicholas urged the people of the longhouses to co-operate to keep the dam and filtering system clean.
In the function, he also added that the ‘Ngiling Bidai’ celebration signalled the end of the Gawai Dayak celebration. A total of 300 people from Rh Baying and Rh Kili attended the event.
