GEORGE TOWN, April 29 — The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) needs strong support from the Energy Transition and Water Transformation Ministry (Petra) to complete two components of its dam expansion project, its chief executive officer, K. Pathmanathan said.
The two components are part of the Mengkuang Dam Expansion Project (MDEP) and will allow the expanded dam to function completely as the main supporting raw water supply source for Penang by 2030.
“Petra development division undersecretary Amisam Ismail visited the dam site today and PBAPP gave a briefing on the project.
“The factors driving the need for the two MDEP components are the high water usage in the state, at 877 million litres daily in 2023 and 927 million litres daily in February 2024, and climate change that has caused inconsistent rainfall in water catchment areas at state dams and Sungai Muda, the main source of raw water supply for the state,” he said in a statement today.
The two components needed are the incomplete 2C package, the construction of the Lahar Yooi pump house to pump water from Sungai Muda to refill Mengkuang Dam during rainy season and the upgrading of a discharge pipe at the dam from 400 million litres daily to 1,000 million litres daily that can be used as a supporting water supply source to Sungai Muda.
“If we can discharge 1,000 million litres daily from the dam in an emergency scenario, any short-term incident involving Sungai Muda should not affect water supply for the 465,000 accounts in Penang,” he said.
He also said that Petra would build a new barrage and related components in Rantau Panjang, Seberang Perai with an estimated cost of RM200 million to replace the 51-year-old existing barrage. — Bernama
