A woman uses a boat to conduct daily activities in floodwater at Kampung Tersau in Rantau Panjang, Kelantan, December 29, 2021. — Bernama pic
PASIR MAS, Dec 29 — The Sungai Golok Integrated River Basin Development Project (PLSB) in Rantau Panjang which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024 would be able to prevent the problem of stagnant floodwater and big floods in the area in future.
Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said even though the project is taking some time to complete as it involved several construction phases, the state government will attempt to expedite the implementation of the flood mitigation project.
“We cannot carry out the mitigation simultaneously and currently we hope to expedite any possible areas to prevent any major flood during the construction of the project.
“Kelantan Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) which is responsible for the implementation of the project has taken measures including various approaches to overcome flood,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after a presentation of Bantuan Wang Ihsan (BWI) to 152 heads of households (KIR) at Dewan Utama Apam Putra here today.
In this regard, Ahmad refuted allegations on Facebook of the existence of illegal logging activities in the Permanent Forest Reserve (HSK) in Sungai Durian in Kuala Krai.
“The loggings are licensed, it is just that what was seen (in the viral video) were transfer activities which have been approved,” he said.
Meanwhile, at a separate function, Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said all forward bases in the state were already on a standby mode to face the second wave of flood expected to occur tomorrow and Friday.
“Each year, the state government made preparations for floods such as setting special committees, providing food supply and identifying foward bases for the supply of flood victims.
“For the second wave of flood, we are prepared more so after seeing what happened in Selangor. Nonetheless, with the experience of the 2014 major flood and cooperation of various agencies, we will try to do our best if there is a major flood,” he told reporters after the state government executive meeting in Kota Darul Naim, in Kota Baru. — Bernama