KOTA KINABALU — The Sabah Ministry of Public Works has prioritised flood mitigation in the planning and construction of the Pan Borneo Highway to ensure it does not negatively impact the drainage system, the Sabah state assembly was told today.

Assistant Minister Datuk Limus Jury said several measures were taken during the early stages of the project, such as route planning and design, flood simulation and risk assessment, as well as the construction of elevated roads in Beaufort.

“Throughout the construction phase, efforts have been made to minimise flood impact, including the maintenance of both temporary and new drainage systems, as well as improvements to drainage design,” he said.

He was responding to a question from Dr Daud Yusof (Warisan–Bongawan), who had asked about the steps taken to prevent flooding in low-lying areas during heavy rain, particularly concerning the Pan Borneo Highway project.

Limus added that the alignment planning and design for the highway underwent thorough evaluation and was approved by the relevant government agencies, including the Sabah Department of Irrigation and Drainage. 

“In addition, the Sabah Environmental Protection Department has also played a key role, including approving the Environmental Impact Assessment report and overseeing flood simulations conducted before the project was started,” he said.

Limus added that the project contractor is responsible for ensuring that both temporary and new drainage systems remain free from sediment, debris or vegetation, with routine monitoring and maintenance carried out to ensure smooth water flow at all times.

“The project team has also taken the initiative to enhance the original drainage designs along the Pan Borneo Highway boundary, based on current needs and on-site conditions, to improve drainage and reduce the risk of flooding,” he said. — BERNAMA

KABUL, 16 April (Bernama-Xinhua) – Gempa bumi berukuran 5.6 magnitud melanda wilayah Nuristan di timur Afghanistan pada pagi Rabu, lapor Kajian Geologi Amerika Syarikat (USGS), menurut Xinhua.

Menurut USGS, gempa bumi melanda Parun City, ibu negeri wilayah Nuristan, pada 3:43 pagi waktu tempatan, dengan pusat gempa terletak pada kedudukan 35.95 darjah latitud utara dan 70.56 darjah longitud timur, dengan kedalaman 99 km.

Nuristan ialah wilayah terpencil dan bergunung-ganang yang bersempadan dengan Pakistan. Disebabkan akses terhad kepada Internet dan telekomunikasi, masih tiada laporan mengenai mangsa dan kerosakan akibat bencana itu.

– BERNAMA-XINHUA

Forecast-beating growth in China’s first quarter may have offered Beijing’s economic planners some much-needed good news – but analysts warn they should strap in for tariff-induced woes further down the line.

The National Bureau of Statistics said today the world’s number-two economy expanded 5.4% on-year in January-March, helped by a surge in exports.

However, observers said the bulk of that came from “frontloading” as business rushed to ship goods out of the factory before Donald Trump’s trade blitz kicked in.

While state efforts to boost lagging consumption – for months a drag on growth – played a role in the growth boost, the outlook remained uncertain.

“The strong performance has been driven by trade frontloading ahead of anticipated tariffs and a policy-driven rebound in consumption – particularly in electronics and home appliances,” she added.

Tit-for-tat exchanges have seen US levies imposed on China rise to 145%, and Beijing setting a retaliatory 125% toll on imports from America.

Trump has said the ball is in China’s court if it wants to find a way out and Beijing has, in turn, vowed to “fight to the end” in a trade war that shows few signs of letting up.

“The escalation happening in April is going to be felt in the second-quarter figures as the tariffs will send stateside firms looking to other suppliers, impeding Chinese exports and slamming the brakes on investment,” Heron Lim, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, told AFP.

“This will hit electronics makers and exporters the hardest, as their products dominate China’s US-bound exports,” he said.

Louise Loo at Oxford Economics warned that “the improvement in growth momentum is very likely to be short-circuited in the coming months by the incoming headwinds of punitive tariffs”.

Today, China admitted that the global economy was becoming more “complex and severe” – and that tariffs were putting “pressure” on trade.

A top economic planner also stressed that more “proactive and effective macro policies” would be needed to boost growth.

Beijing last year announced a string of aggressive measures to reignite the economy, including interest rate cuts, cancelling restrictions on homebuying, hiking the debt ceiling for local governments and bolstering support for financial markets.

After a blistering market rally fuelled by hopes for a long-awaited “bazooka stimulus”, optimism waned as authorities refrained from providing a specific figure for the bailout or fleshing out any of the pledges.

But as a potentially crippling trade war looms, analysts agree that Beijing may finally feel pressed to do more to boost domestic spending and tariff-proof the economy.

A debt crisis in the property sector – long a major drag on broader consumer sentiment – remains a crucial handicap for the economy.

“Throwing the domestic economy a lifeline is more important than ever before,” Sarah Tan of Moody’s Analytics said.

“The cratering property market remains front and centre of households’ concerns,” she added.

“Combined with the shaky labour market, falling house prices are giving households good reason to prioritise saving over spending,” Tan said.

Insights into how that stimulus could work could emerge from an expected meeting of China’s Politburo, its ruling party Communist Party’s top decision-making body.

“We continue to anticipate a US$2 trillion stimulus package focused on consumption, infrastructure, urban renewal, and shantytown renovation,” said Su at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Challenges to China’s economy remain significant over the coming quarters,” Su said.

SHAH ALAM: Pintu kunci air akan dibina di beberapa lokasi yang sering dinaiki air sebagai langkah segera mengatasi masalah banjir di Selangor.

EXCO Infrastruktur dan Pertanian negeri, Datuk Ir Izham Hashim, berkata antara lokasi yang dikenal pasti memerlukan pintu kunci air adalah Kampung Baru Hicom, Shah Alam; Padang Jawa, Klang serta Kampung Tengah dan Kampung Seri Aman di Puchong.

Katanya, Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran (JPS) sudah diminta untuk meneliti beberapa lagi kawasan lain sekali gus mengelakkan banjir berulang lagi.

"Kita dapati ada pihak berkuasa tempatan (PBT) tiada pintu kunci air, hanya JPS yang ada (pintu kunci air).

JPS (akan) pam air keluar dan satu lagi (PBT) menolak air. Jadi kerja mengepam air jadi sia-sia.

"Justeru, langkah segera kita bina pintu kunci air. Kita akan mohon peruntukan negeri supaya kerja ini dapat dijalankan secepat mungkin," katanya hari ini.