KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 — The federal government will do what it can to reduce the prevalence of floods in the country due to budget constraints, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said in Parliament today.
Citing a study by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID), Fadillah said that the government would need RM392 billion to execute 365 flood mitigation projects.
“To solve the flood issue, the government needs an allocation of RM392 billion but government allocations do not reach that amount. That’s why we implement projects based on priority and according to the region and state,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat.
From that amount, flood mitigation costs RM170 billion alone, Fadillah, who is also the energy transition and water transformation minister said in reply to Klang MP Ganabatirau Veraman.
“The reality is that government allocations are limited,” Fadillah said.
Nonetheless, he said the federal government will still allocate funds to states to prepare for impending floods.
He also said that the government is satisfied with some of the efforts made to mitigate floods such as the subsurface Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, which was activated over 600 times to divert flood water.
He said that SMART, completed in 2007, saved the nation RM4.3 billion from flood-induced damage, based on a study by DID in 2012.
Fadillah also said that flooding is primarily caused by a sharp increase in rainfall intensity due to climate change, combined with an inadequate drainage system and uncontrolled development and land use activities.
Additionally, improper waste disposal and damage to drainage infrastructure contribute significantly to flooding, particularly flash floods.
