KOTA KINABALU: The Public Works Department (PWD) has submitted an application for RM2 million allocation for the immediate repair of the hill slope affected by landslide along the road leading to Al Falah Mosque in Kapayan here.
Special Tasks Minister, Datuk Arifin Mohd Arif, who disclosed this, said this is an immediate measure being taken to stop the problem from worsening.
Apart from that, he said, a request will made for an allocation from the State Government for the purpose of strengthening the hill slopes outside the mosque as part of the effort to prevent recurrence of landslide in future.
“These are measures that I and the mosque committee have discussed with representatives from the PWD, Sabah Islamic Religious Council (Muis) and State Islamic Religious Affairs Department (Jheains) for resolving this problem.
“We have come up with short- and long-term planning as solution for this problem. The immediate measures will implemented by the PWD immediately,” he told reporters during his working visit at the site here Saturday.
He also thanked the PWD for assisting in the effort to resolve the problem.
When asked, Arifin said so far this is the only mosque facing a landslide problem but PWD and Jheains will from time to time do monitoring and inspections at all the mosques.
The mosque’s committee Chairman, Haji Abdul Malex Chua, its Patron, Tan Sri Datuk Khalil Jamalul, Jheains Director, Datuk Ustaz Haji Saifulzaman Sangul and State PWD Deputy Director, Haji Ali Ahmad Hamid, were also present.
Arifin was also briefed by Abdul Malek about the committee’s future planning for the mosque during the visit.
Arifin congratulated the committee for the planning and asked the committee to refer it to Muis and Jheains, being the owner of the six-acre land where the mosque sits, because both have jurisdictions on the mosques and religious schools throughout Sabah.
“They need to get information and agreement from Muis. But I think there should be no problem because this is a good thing. And they will evaluate and discuss with PWD which has the expertise in matters related to lands and hills,” he said, while hoping the Al Falah Mosque Kapayan will become an example for the other mosques.
This mosque, which can accommodate up to 1000 congregants, on the hill was opened in 2017.
To another question, Arifin said the Sabah Zakat Centre (PZS) has agreed to add another RM100 to the monthly assistance for the asnaf group (the poors) in the State.
“We have also provided RM1.3 million to hospitals in the State which are in need of immediate assistance. Apart from that, we have also provided one-off RM500 to each of the workers handling the death and the fardu kifayah,” he said.-pr/BNN
