KUALA LUMPUR: The Works Ministry will consult with the Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) to see if widespread flooding in Sabah was caused by the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway.

Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said flood matters were under the DID's purview, but studies would be carried out to determine the cause of flooding along the highway.

“If (the construction work is the cause), we will find a way to resolve this and ensure floods do not recur.

“It was claimed that the floods were caused by the highway construction. We (the ministry and DID) will conduct the studies together,” he said during Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (July 16).

Nanta said the Pan Borneo Highway design took into account the suitability of the area, the drainage system, as well as average rainfall.

He added that swift rectification measures would be carried out if needed to avoid any further negative impact on local communities.

“This includes improving existing (drainage) systems on the construction (of the route),” he said.

He added that flood simulations at high-risk areas along the route indicated that the construction did not have a significant impact on nearby areas, but the in-depth studies would verify this.

He also said extraordinary rainfall could have caused rivers to overflow, and pointed out that the affected localities were already known to be flood-prone areas even before work began on the highway.

Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna) had asked about standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the highway contractors to mitigate disasters such as floods and landslides along the route.

Nanta said the authorities were open to improving existing SOPs for construction works near federal roads.

Asked if the ministry was open to revealing investigation findings from accidents along those roads, Alexander said it would depend on the scale of the incident.

“If it (the accident) is on a smaller scale, maybe not. But if it claimed lives, then it is our moral obligation to reveal the findings,” he told Dr Halimah Ali (PN-Kapar).

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/07/16/joint-study-to-determine-if-pan-borneo-highway-construction-caused-flooding