‘Only RM443m for flood projects, not RM2.6b’

> Penang refutes fund allocation from federal govt

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government has refuted claims by Penang Federal Action Council chairman Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Osman that the federal government had allocated RM2.6 billion for flood mitigation projects.

State Local Government ,Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said only RM443 million of federal funds was spent for such projects as the allocation had been amended by the federal government.

“From the information that I have, the original allocation that was applied for by the state Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) had been amended and the actual sum spent was only RM443 million,” he said during a press conference at Komtar.

According to Chow, after the amendment was made, the federal government only allocated RM1.79 billion in three consecutive Malaysian Plans (RMK9, RMK10 and RMK11) for the state to spend on flood mitigation projects.

He said if the federal government had spent the full RM1.79 billion on flood mitigation projects in Penang, the people would not be facing flash floods now.

He said the state government, even with limited funds, together with the local councils has spent RM405 million on its own flood mitigation projects.

“We have spent almost close to what the federal government has allocated to us.”

The federal government has an important role to play compared to the local authorities in implementing flood mitigation projects in the state, Chow said.

“They (the federal government) should have spent more but they did not do that.”

There are about 77 flood hotspots in the state, out of which 28 have been implemented with flood mitigation projects.

The projects were completed by the DID which has resolved the flooding problem.

“Currently there are about 15 more flood mitigation projects in the pipeline,” he said, adding that the state government will take charge of the remaining 34 hotspots.

On Monday, Zainal issued a statement saying the federal government had spent about RM2 billion for flood mitigation projects in Penang.

He was reported as saying, without this allocation, the flood problems would have been worse for Penang.

He also listed 25 federal funded flood mitigation projects under RMK9, RMK10 and RMK11 including the Sungai Pinang Flood Mitigation Plan that totalled RM2.04 billion.