KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has ordered all agencies to work more swiftly and aggressively to assist flood victims in badly hit Taman Sri Muda in Shah Alam.
He said the National Disaster Coordination Special Meeting, which he chaired today, was of the view that the massive flooding needed to be resolved immediately.
"Until this evening, up to 41 boats, 16 lorries as well as other assets have been deployed to Taman Sri Muda with the strength of a 321-men rescue team.
"I have also instructed the Environment and Water Ministry through the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) to quickly mobilise 20 mobile pumps to the affected areas, in addition to the four existing ones now.
"This is to pump out stagnant water to the nearest rivers. The extra pumps can be obtained from various agencies, including those owned by Selangor DID to channel the stagnant water into the Klang River," he said in a statement today.
The government, he said, welcomed any non-governmental organisation that wanted to render assistance to flood victims.
However, he said they must refer to the district disaster management centre before doing so.
Ismail Sabri added that he had also agreed to the proposal for several river barriers (benteng sungai), of which locations have yet to be decided, to be broken or drilled temporarily to allow stagnant water to flow to the river.
The meeting, he said, had also decided that the National Security Council (NSC) will issue orders that needed quick action to all parties.
"The National Disaster Management Agency will remain as the main disaster management secretariat and will handle all coordination.
"If a certain action is not adhered to, then the NSC will issue further directives," he said.
Ismail Sabri said government-linked companies (GLC) and government-linked investment companies (GLIC) have agreed to contribute RM50.8 million to tackle floods and post flood recovery efforts.
"This is an increase of more than 100 per cent compared to the RM25 million announced yesterday.
"The GLIC and GLC involved include Petronas, Yayasan Petronas, Khazanah Nasional and Yayasan Hasanah, Yayasan Sime Darby, CIMB, Celcom, Telekom Malaysia, Yayasan UEM and Employees Provident Fund.
"With the government's grant of RM25 million, this means the fund for efforts to resolve the impact of floods and post flood recovery is RM75.8 million," he added.
The government will allocate RM100 million for post flood recovery activities to restore homes and damaged infrastructure, he said.
Bantuan Wang Ikhsan worth RM1,000 will be given to each head of household affected by the flooding regardless if they had been relocated to a relief centre or not.
"To assist entrepreneurs, financing loans up to RM5,000 through Bank Simpanan Nasional will be given without interest with a payment period that will only begin six months after the agreement is signed.
"The government has also agreed to give a two-month rental waiver to SME Bank's Entrepreneur Premises Complex tenants affected by the floods.
"The government, through SME Bank, will also ease loan restructuring applications," he said, adding that RM30 million will be set aside for Flood Recovery Loan through Tekun Nasional.
Affected cooperatives can also apply for financial assistance of up to RM30,000 through the Malaysian Cooperative Commission's Emergency Fund.
