TANAH MERAH: The Works Ministry has so far identified 94 disaster locations in the country, says its minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi.
He said the locations involved 52 state roads and 42 federal roads in eight states, namely Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Kedah, Negri Sembilan, Johor, Selangor and Perak.
“Of the 94 locations, 61 areas involved floods, collapsed slopes (19 locations), collapsed roads (five), road subsidence (six) and damaged or collapsed bridges (three).
“Terengganu and Kelantan were the most affected with six districts each, followed by Pahang and Negri Sembilan (four), Kedah and Johor (two) and Perak and Selangor (one),” he told a press conference after inspecting the erosion along Sungai Kusial river bank here yesterday.
Nanta, however, said the amount of losses caused by the disasters was still being assessed by the ministry, Bernama reported.
“We will immediately carry out repair works on damaged infrastructure by focusing on sites such as Batang Kali in Selangor,” he said.
Commenting on his observation in Kelantan, Nanta said immediate repairs would be carried out on the Kota Baru-Kuala Terengganu trunk road which was damaged due to flooding last Sunday, and was estimated to cost RM850,000.
“There is no structural damage to the Kusial bridge in Tanah Merah and it has been reopened for public use despite the erosion of the bank on a pile cap under the bridge following heavy rain last Sunday.
“Nevertheless, close monitoring and physical inspection by the Public Works Department (JKR) and concessionaire will be carried out from time to time to ensure the safety of road users,” he said.
He said the public could lodge complaints to the Disaster Operations Room or BiGBen, which is a one-stop centre for disaster management covering floods, landslides, collapsed roads, road subsidence, and damaged and collapsed bridges involving roads under the supervision of JKR throughout the country.
