TUARAN, MAY 17 — The State Water Department has extended the completion of Telibong 2 Water Treatment Plant (phase two) from June to August this year.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya announced this to reporters after a closed-door briefing at the construction site yesterday.

"I was briefed on the latest progress of the phase two of Telibong 2 Water Treatment Plant, which I was initially informed that this project should be completed in June.

"But from the briefing I was told there was a slight delay in terms of mechanical and electrical works, so I expect that the testing and commissioning will be completed in August.

"So when the project is approved in August, it will be possible to use 25 to 30 per cent of treated water from the plant’s actual capacity of 80 million litres per day,” he said.

Shahelmy, who is also the Minister of Public Works, explained that only 25 to 30 per cent water from the plant’s capacity to be supplied due to the issues on the installation of pipes that is still under consultation stage.

The consultation is to determine and also finalise where the water would be channelled.

"So, when this plant is ready to operate in August, I hope there are no more technical problems, so that we will be getting an additional of 20 to 30 million litres of treated water per day for the Tuaran and northern part of Kota Kinabalu,” he said.

Before visiting Telibong 2 Water Treatment Plant project site, Shahelmy visited the Urgent Water Supply Scheme (UWSS) plant at the Telibong 2 Water Treatment Plant site.

He said the UWSS water treatment plant had been completed and expected to supply about 10 million litres of treated water per day to Tuaran and northern part of Kota Kinabalu after testing and commissioning process. — Borneo Post Online