KUALA NERUS: Villagers are glad for the immediate remedial temporary work to mitigate the serious beach erosion at Kampung Kolam in Mengabang Telipot.
Mohd Non Nawang, 61, an ikan celup tepung (fried fish) trader who owns Warung Pok Nong Celup Tepung, expressed relief that the critical erosion just 4m from his stall would no longer threaten his seafood stall anymore.
He said the visit to the site by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman yesterday gave villagers hope that the location was being monitored.
He said the RM90 million allocation to repair the damage was timely.
He said Razif announced that the fund came from the Federal Government and would be disbursed once the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) completed its structural and engineering study.
He said this showed that the government was concerned about the rakyat’s safety.
He said he had not been able to sleep in the past four days as the erosion was creeping closer to his stall.
“I stayed at the stall until 3am for the past four days to monitor the waves. This stall is my and my 16 workers’ sole source of income.”
Non, who has been operating the stall for 20 years, said he used to sell 80kg of fried squid, 50kg of fish and 25kg of prawns daily, and the amount doubled during weekends.
“The daily earning of RM8,000 on Fridays and Saturdays dropped to between RM3,000 and RM4,000 when the erosion hit the access road,” he said today.
The father of eight children, aged between 32 and 17, said he had no place to go if the area became too dangerous for his business.
He said a long stretch of the coastal road was sealed off after it began to erode last Sunday night following monsoon tidal waves.
He said the 6km stretch of the beach front was affected by erosion from the 2.1m-high waves.
DID’s study would take into account preventive measures to prevent the erosion from recurring. A fund of RM2 million has already been disbursed to build a temporary retaining wall.