KUALA LUMPUR: More facilities such as the capital's Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel (Smart) will be built in densely-populated cities, such as Shah Alam, as a long-term solution to flood woes in the country.
The decision was part of a series of measures that was agreed upon by the Central Disaster Management Committee (CDMC) on Thursday to enhance flood prevention and mitigation efforts.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who chaired the virtual meeting, said all relevant ministries and agencies should set aside five per cent of their operational and developmental expenditures for disaster preparedness efforts.
"During the meeting, the committee agreed to outline the eight strategic measures to upgrade the country's disaster management, as proposed by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma).
"The disaster risk reduction (DRR) policy will be expanded to state and district levels to enhance the management of floods since a single platform will be created to store all repositories of risk registers in a systematic manner.
"These comprehensive solutions require funds worth billions of ringgit and is a time-consuming process to achieve.
"The committee, therefore, agreed to give priority and focus to high-risk areas to implement our plans to resolve flood woes," he said in a statement.
Ismail Sabri said the committee has also agreed in principle on 17 short- and long-term suggestions that were proposed by the Environment and Water Ministry to resolve flood woes.
He said these include initiatives to identify permanent temporary evacuation centres and to equip them with basic amenities such as bathrooms, toilets and stores to keep essential items like mattresses and tents for flood victims.
Hostels in boarding schools that are converted into evacuation centres will house the flood victims.
Community leaders, said Ismail Sabri, will be given basic equipment and assistance to act as initial responders and execute early actions during floods.
A new subject on disaster management will also be introduced in schools, colleges and universities.
"State authorities and local councils will be tasked to ensure the proper maintenance of drainage systems.
"Other measures include upgrading, widening and deepening of major rivers; raising the heights of flood barriers, drains and riverbanks; building more flood barriers and building dams and barrages to regulate the rise of water levels," said Ismail Sabri.
The government, he said, will also develop flood-resilient "sponge cities" akin to what can be found in China and emulate the Netherlands by creating "floating cities".
Ismail Sabri said flood-prone villages located along the rivers will be relocated to higher grounds and a flood forecasting and warning system based on artificial intelligence will be developed.
The government, he said, will also upgrade 100 existing automatic weather stations and establish a National Numerical Weather Prediction Centre.
Besides controlling logging activities, Ismail Sabri the approval for all town planning projects must consider the risk of flooding.