3 days ago
Phase 2 of flood mitigation plan to benefit over 100,000 households in Miri
Lee (second right) shows the map of the Miri River Flood Mitigation Plan Phase 2 as Chen (right) and others look on.
MIRI (June 10): The Miri River Flood Mitigation Plan Phase 2, to be tendered by the end of this year, will benefit over 100,000 households in low-lying and flood-prone areas here, said Transport Minister Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin.
Lee, who is also minister-in-charge of the Divisional Disaster Management Committee, said the RM50 million project has completed its design stage, and the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has submitted it for siting approval.
'Once the siting approval is obtained, DID will call for tender. Hopefully, by the end of the year, the tender can be awarded. We hope that the project can be completed within 24 months,' he told reporters after being briefed on the project by DID divisional engineer Daniel Chen here yesterday.
Lee noted that Phase 2 of the project covers the Sungai Dalam catchment area, which includes Pujut Tanjong Batu, Sungai Dalam, Canada Hill, Miri Hospital, Taman Lopeng Jaya, Riam Institute of Technology, Chung San School, Miri Airport, Taman Tunku, SMK Taman Tunku and Kampung Lusut.
It also encompasses the Assar Commercial Centre at Jalan Bypass Miri, Eastwood Valley Golf Club, Melia Residence and Richmond Park.
'The project primarily aims to address the issue of flooding in these areas. Taman Tunku, for instance, experienced flash floods in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2019. Meanwhile, Pujut Tanjong Batu was hit by floods in 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021 and most recently in 2025,' said Lee.
He added that during the earlier briefing, he had told DID that construction should begin in the most severely affected areas, and Riam, Pujut Padang Kerbau, Canada Hill and Taman Lopeng Baru have been identified as the main priority zones.
'This project will benefit over 100,000 households. We also hope it will at least minimise the risk of recurrent flooding in these flood-prone areas.'
On a related matter, Lee said he had also requested DID to pay special attention to new development areas, ensuring that any drainage systems implemented are able to accommodate future growth.
He noted that some of the current flooding problems stemmed from undersized drainage systems that were approved 10 or 20 years ago, prior to the development of surrounding areas.
'That is why the new plan includes the upgrading and resizing of existing drainage systems,' he said.
Also present were Miri City Council councillors. Divisional Disaster Management Committee flood mitigation lead Lee Kim Shin
