101 Emergency Work Dealing With Floods In Negeri Sembilan

SEREMBAN: A total of 101 emergency works in Negeri Sembilan will be implemented to ensure the well-being of the people and the safety of property protected from flood disasters.

Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said, overall, the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (JPS) Negeri Sembilan has been allocated RM5 million from the Federal Government to carry out the emergency works.

According to him, of the total number of unexpected emergency works, 42 of them have been completed, another 22 are under construction while another 37 are in the procurement process.

“It is expected that as many as 120,000 residents in Negeri Sembilan who were previously exposed to the risk of flooding will be protected,” he told reporters after visiting the Drainage Restoration Works Project at Taman Delima and Taman Anggerik, Mukim Rantau in Rantau, here, today.

Nik Nazmi explained that the project he visited involved the scope of work to restore the banks of the Simin River 55 meters long and repair the outlet drain with a project cost of RM730,600 using Federal Development Allocations.

According to him, the work started on August 3 and is expected to be fully completed on December 21.

“This project is expected to provide protection from the risk of flooding to 550 residents in Taman Delima and Taman Anggerik,” he said.

In the meantime, Nik Nazmi informed that there are five Flood Mitigation Plan (RTB) projects worth RM200 million in the implementation process in this state and the expected completion depends on the size of the project.

The five projects in question are two in Seremban which are RTB Sungai Sungai Batang Labu and the integrated river basin development of Sungai Linggi Phase 4; integrated river basin development of Sungai Pedas (Rembau); RTB Sungai Raya (Port Dickson) and RTB Sungai Chempedak (Jelebu).

“These are big flood mitigation projects and we also have high priority projects that we are speeding up the procurement process for us to solve the flood issues, there are three projects in Negeri Sembilan worth RM550 million.

“The three projects in question are RTB Sungai Jelai in Kuala Pilah; integrated river basin development (Phase 5); and RTB Sungai Solok (Port Dickson).

“We are trying our best to deal with the biggest high-priority projects to projects that involve construction or maintenance works that are a little small as we see today,” he said.

According to him, for the flood mitigation project, the government does not discriminate against any state to be given priority.

“We are guided by the needs of the states. Any state that we see facing large flood cases, that becomes our priority.

“It is true that there are half of the needs that need to be resolved as soon as possible, (because) the cost to the vulnerable population, the cost to the community there, so we prioritize. Evaluation at the government level is based on the matter,” he said.