JITRA, Dec 12 — More than 10 small bridges damaged following a series of floods in Baling have been restored in stages after residents in the affected areas got together and repaired the bridges the gotong-royong way, says Kupang assemblyman Datuk Najmi Ahmad.
He said the affected bridges were repaired using allocations given by the state government.
“Climate change has resulted in extreme rainfall which caused infrastructures like roads and small bridges which connect villages to be damaged.
“So, for such small damages, I use my allocation as a state assemblyman with an estimated RM2,000, to repair each bridge, I decided to carry out the repair work on a gotong-royong basis,” said Najmi, when asked about the follow-up action taken in areas hit by floods in Kupang, Baling.
He was met after officiating the handing over of Perhebat certificates to 145 soon-to-be-retiring armed forces personnel here today.
Commenting further, Najmi, who is also the State Religion, Education and Human Resources Committee chairman said he would provide all the items needed such as cement, while the villages carried out the repair work.
“For more serious damages, we will need to assistance of agencies like the Rural and Regional Development Ministry and we will channel the information to the related agencies to seek immediate repairs to the damaged bridges,” he said.
On December 1, more than 50 houses in seven villages in Kupang, Baling were affected by flash floods which caused small bridges, including in Kampung Tanjung, to be damaged following two hours of rain. — Bernama
