GEORGE TOWN, Nov 14 — Residents and business owners along Jalan Transfer and its vicinity can now feel relieved as the flood-mitigation works in the area have been completed.

State Local Government, Flood Mitigation and Traffic Management Committee chairman, Chow Kon Yeow said the RM5.87 million project started on April 1, 2015 and the road would function as usual from Nov 18, after it had been tarred.

"Transfer road has been known for decades to be a flood-prone area each time it rained and during high tide due to its low-lying location, but the project would minimise flooding in the area,” he told a press conference, here, today.

Among the components of the mitigation project were installing a tidal gate that will control water flow during high tide and release water from heavy rain into the sea, and increase the capacity of the internal drainage system.

Chow, however, said he could not promise that the project would prevent floods from recurring in future.

"We can only do what we can, and the state government has done what it could to solve the flood issue in the state,” he said.

Chow said more than RM30 million had been allocated by the state government since 2008 for flood-mitigation projects across the state and the funds collected from developers had also been used for the same purpose.

"The funds had been collected from the developers since the 1990’s and used to conduct the relevant studies and to support the flood-mitigation projects.

The funds had depleted over the years, with only a few million ringgit left now,” he said.

Gerakan had questioned about the money collected from developers and the allocation from the state to combat flooding.

Chow said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng was expected to make an announcement on allocation for flood mitigation during the budget tabling at the State Assembly sitting tomorrow. — Bernama