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DEPARTMENT OF IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE MALAYSIA (D.I.D.)

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia or 'DID', is a Malaysian government department entrusted to manage Malaysia's natural water resources. Referred to in Malay as Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran Malaysia or J.P.S., the department is an agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Malaysia and is the national authority on river, flood and coastal management.

Mission

The DID's mission is to manage water resources through both curative and preventive programmes. DID is a technical engineering department responsible for the implementation of engineering projects for the purpose of drainage and irrigation, flood mitigation, river conservation, coastal protection and erosion and sediment control. The department manages an extensive hydrological data acquisition  network that facilitates  the design and construction of the nation's water resources engineering projects.

History

The formation of DID coincided with the Great Depression which affected the economies of every country in the world. In 1930, a Rice Cultivation Committee was formed by the then government to determine the necessary steps that would increase rice production in Malaya. In its report released in 1931, the committee recommended -

''That an Irrigation and Drainage Department should be established which will be executive in the Straits Settlement and Federated Malay States and advisory in the Unfederated Malay States which will absorb the existing Hydraulic Branch of the Public Works Department, Federated Malay States. The separation of irrigation and drainage work from flood prevention and river training is undesirable so that existing activity of the Hydraulic Branch in this direction would be absorbed by the new department.''

The DID was officially created on 1st January, 1932 with the Deputy Director of Public Works appointed as its first Director. DID began operations with a staff that included 17 engineers.

The original main functions of the new-formed DID were to improve drainage and irrigation infrastructure in existing paddy areas, to develop new areas for paddy cultivation and to create agricultural drainage schemes in coastal areas to increase yield of non-paddy crops. DID was also tasked to maintain and operate irrigation and drainage schemes and to maintain and repair the alignment of river and natural streams. These maintenance works included dredging, flood mitigation, river training and constructing river diversions.

Administration Structure

Over the years, DID has operated under various administrative arrangements. In 1951, under the Member States System, DID was under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry together with the Forestry Department, Fisheries Department and the Department of Wildlife. In 1954, it was placed under the Ministry of Environmental Resources. Following the general elections of 1955, the government system again changed and DID was placed under the agriculture and forestry portfolio. The DID continued to be associated with the agriculture portfolio under the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives that was formed in 1957. This ministry eventually became the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in 1972.

Following the General Elections of 2004, a major restructuring of government ministries was implemented. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries was renamed Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries and under the new order, only the drainage and irrigation division of DID was retained. The remaining divisions were placed under the newly formed Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. This was the onset of a new direction in DID mission and functions. The DID continues to train and provide human resources support to the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries.

DID Functions

From its formation in 1932 till 1971, the functions of the DID remained essentially the same. These were primarily land drainage, irrigation and river conservancy. In 1972, flood mitigation was gazetted as its official function based on Warta Pemberitahuan P.U.(A) 126 dated 11 May 1972.

In 1986, following the recommendations of the National Coastal Erosion Study completed in 1985, a National Center for Coastal Erosion Control (NCCEC) was established by the Government under the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. The NCCEC was housed in DID headquarters in Sultan Salahuddin Road and staffed by DID personnel. The NCCEC was incorporated as a functional division of DID following an organisational restructuring of the DID in 1991.

1932 - 1945 and the Japanese Occupation

In the years preceding the Japanese Occupation of 1941, DID carried out massive works towards fulfilling its responsibilites. Major irrigation schemes were created namely Sungai Manik (Perak; 24,000 acres), Panchang Bedena (Selangor; 15,500 acres), Tambahan Krian (Perak; 10,000 acres), Lambor and Bota (both Perak; 2,250 acres;), Pulau Tiga (Perak; 2,400 acres) and Pahang Tua (3,000 acres; Pahang). In addition, numerous small irrigation schemes were developed in Melaka (13,000 acres) and in Penang/Seberang Prai and Negeri Sembilan (35,000 acres). In summary, 53,000 acres of new paddy farmland was created whilst drainage and irrigation infrastructure was upgraded to benefit 120,000 acres of existing paddy land.

References

Annual Report of the Drainage and Irrigation Department for the year 1951 by P. McNee, Director, Drainage and Irrigation, Federation of Malaya. June 1952

Penyata Tiga-tahun Bahagian Parit dan Taliair, Kementerian Pertanian dan Syarikat Kerjasama, Malaysia - Tahun-tahun 1970, 1971 dan 1972