KUANTAN: The government has identified flood-prone areas nationwide to carry out mitigation works, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
Zahid, who is also the chairman of the National Disaster Management Committee (Nadma), added that in addition to addressing flood-related issues, the government is also focusing on coastal erosion problems.
"Nadma is coordinating with the Energy Transition and Public Utilities Ministry under (Deputy Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Fadillah (Yusof) and the flood mitigation projects will be implemented by the Drainage and Irrigation Department. The flood prone areas have been identified.
"The Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has announced flood mitigation projects in phases and currently works are ongoing in several states including in Pahang and Terengganu," he told reporters at the Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Silver Jubilee hall here today.
Zahid, who was met after opening the Pahang-leg of the Halal on Track (HoT) programme, was commenting on the RM150 million to mitigate flash floods and RM600 million for Nadma to face flood disasters which was announced by Anwar when presenting the 2025 Budget yesterday.
Present were Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar.
"Global warming and climate change has also resulted coastal erosion and by 2050, several small islands on the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean could be underwater .
"The coastal areas on the east or west of Peninsular including Sabah and Sarawak will be affected...if we fail to take action now, then we will end up spending about RM1 trillion 2050 to manage issues concerning coastal erosion."
Meanwhile, Zahid said Anwar has also provided allocation to build permanent disaster relief centres with washroom and toilet facilities instead of continuing to rely on the current temporary flood shelters at schools and halls.