March 5, SEGAMAT — The commitment from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is that the flood mitigation projects, particularly in Johor, will be accelerated and must start in June of this year.
Since that the flooding issue is a persistent issue, he stated that the project tendering process needs to be completed as quickly as possible.
“That will happen again if we don’t take strong action to address this (the flood) issue. It has happened before, sometimes twice a year, and this is not the first time.
He visited the temporary relief centre at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Kampung Tengah today and said, “As a result, we decided that expensive flood prevention projects worth RM600 million and more will be hastened.
Six flood mitigation projects had previously been postponed, according to him, in order to prevent leaks in funding for assistance to the general public.
The prime minister issued a warning to individuals involved at the same time, urging them not to abuse the government’s disaster funding.
The Tambun Member of Parliament issued a strong warning against utilising the funding provided during floods, emergencies, or other situations, such as for flood mitigation projects, as a way to make extra money.
During the tabling of Budget 2023, Anwar announced that six flood mitigation projects, including one in Sungai Johor, Kota Tinggi here, will be re-tendered by June this year.
Other projects are the construction of the Sungai Klang-Sungai Rasau dual-function reservoir in Selangor and Phase 3 of the Sungai Golok Integrated River Basin Development Project in Kelantan.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said the federal government had approved an allocation of RM10 million for flood aid through the Rural and Regional Development Ministry as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
“I have also announced an additional allocation of RM50 million to be channelled to flood victims and several urgent projects,” he said.
Anwar also said that Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi had requested several new projects to be implemented in the state to reduce the impact of floods.
“So I told him that since we can save around RM1 billion to RM2 billion from old projects, the money will be used for new projects in Segamat, Kota Tinggi and other areas badly hit by floods,” he said.
Besides Ahmad Zahid, Anwar said Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa and other Cabinet ministers have come to monitor the flood situation in the state and offer help to reduce the burden of victims who are forced to evacuate or those experiencing hardships.
He has also contacted several government-linked companies (GLCs), which managed to raise an additional fund of RM20 million to assist Johor residents.
“Tenaga Nasional Bhd will immediately solve electricity problems, Yayasan Sime Darby has provided health kits for over 1,500 families while the rest raised RM20 million in flood relief funds for Johor,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar spent about 30 minutes meeting flood victims at the PPS and listening to a briefing from relevant agencies. He was accompanied by Onn Hafiz and Johor Police Chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat. — Bernama
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Source: MalayMail
