When everyone’s on the same page, projects get moving and disaster is averted
PENANG has not had floods so far this monsoon season. The state saw torrential rain and journalists kept a close eye on community alerts and chat groups for floods, as it is our duty to alert readers, but thankfully, there was no flooding.
From my observation over the years, a great deal of funding has been allocated to flood mitigation.
Once upon a time in Penang, some parts would flood every time it rained.
Our journalists used to report on floods until they got sick of it, while our photographers kept rubber boots in their cars during rainy seasons because they had to walk into floods to get the best pictures.
One special “flood indicator” was the Jalan P. Ramlee area, which flooded like clockwork during a downpour for decades because the narrow Sungai Pinang flows through it.
My friend Arafat, who has lived in the kampung there all his life, confirmed that his home had not flooded at all this monsoon.
The water level in some parts of that area used to reach about neck-high.
In November 2017, a bedridden resident in an old folks home just off Jalan P. Ramlee drowned because the water rose so fast.
It was also the same month that Penang’s Air Itam Dam saw the most rainfall in recorded history.
That particular flood had been the most painful lesson for the current state government, as six people drowned.
Millions of ringgit are lost when infrastructure and assets get submerged, worse when a high tide and downpour forces seawater inland, which corrodes metal.
Before the 2017 floods, the Penang government used to harp on the failure of the Federal Government to disburse the final tranche of the island’s Sungai Pinang flood mitigation project, which was about RM150mil out of about RM650mil approved since 1998.
After the 2017 floods, I finally saw things moving.
The screw pump in Bukit Mertajam capable of drawing out 300 litres of water per second during floods. — Filepic
The Federal Government released RM50mil and another RM100mil later while the state government allocated money from its savings for flood mitigation.
When there was not enough money, some MPs chipped in.
Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim (now Human Resources Minister) for example, allocated RM354,000 from his constituency funds in 2020 for a huge screw pump.
When people were busy staying at home during the Covid-19 pandemic, a lorry-sized blue screw pump was installed at Kota Permai in Bukit Mertajam.
This screw pump, until today, automatically blasts a torrent of water at a rate of 300 litres per second into the river when the area floods.
Kota Permai used to flood easily when the skies opened up, but since that screw pump was installed, there has not been any flood alerts from the area.
In conclusion, flood mitigation projects work but they cost a lot of money.
Governments, their agencies and politicians must set aside their differences when dealing with such projects.
As we edge closer to January, the good news is that the northeast monsoon tends to become drier for Malaysia.
The Chinese New Year at the end of January is usually hot, with bright blue skies.
The southern half of Peninsular Malaysia might still see a storm or two this month but up north, hot days are building up.
You can even expect to delight in harumanis mangoes from Perlis soon, as they always come when the days get hot.
