Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today said there was no need to declare a state of emergency in Johor as the flood situation there has shown signs of improvement.
He said water levels in several areas have started receding along with reduced rainfall.
"The government has decided not to announce a flood emergency as rainfall is expected to start seeing a reduction. Several places have also seen flood waters receding starting today.
"However, there are also some places that may have stagnant water and this may take some time. But there is no need to announce an emergency for now," Anwar was quoted as saying in Segamat today.
He said this when asked if there was a need for an emergency to be declared in Johor as the number of victims has exceeded 40,000.
Bernama reported that Anwar earlier visited flood victims at the SJK(C) Kampung Tengah temporary relief centre in Segamat, one of the areas worst hit by the flood in Johor.
The centre shelters 125 people and provides an educational psychological activity room for children, run by the Social Welfare Department.
Meanwhile, Anwar gave his assurance that the flood mitigation projects, especially in Johor, will be expedited and need to commence in June this year.
He said the tendering process for the projects needs to be done as soon as possible, considering that the flood issue is a recurring problem.
“If we don’t do anything serious to address this (flood) issue, it will happen again. This is not the first time, and it has been going on for years and sometimes twice a year.
“As such, we decided that expensive flood mitigation projects worth RM600 million and above will be expedited,” he said, according to Bernama.
He said the postponement of six flood mitigation projects before this was to avoid leakages in allocations to assist the people. - Mkini
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