In a rare curve ball thrown at the state’s opposition, executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Padang Kota) said since the DAP-led state government was often targeted by BN for not prioritising flood mitigation projects, the state opposition should accept this challenge to get the federal government’s approval for the reclamation projects.
He said several news dailies aligned to the BN had also given the impression that Penang was not spending any money to mitigate floods in the state.
Chow said that was, however, not true as the state government had done its bit, with a historically high RM220 million allocation on flood mitigation projects under next year’s budget.
“I give you my word, we will set aside RM1billion for flood mitigation if my friends from the other side (BN assemblymen) can get the federal government to approve the reclamation,” he said at the Penang assembly today.
Chow was responding to Muhammad Farid Saad (BN-Pulau Betong) who had asked why Penang could spend RM305 million on feasibility studies for the undersea tunnel project, but could not fork out a small sum from the RM27 billion PTMP for flood mitigation projects.
In a debate over the recurring flash floods over the past month, the Penang government said it had done its best to tackle floods.
The state government said the federal government was not allocating monies for the third phase of a mitigation project it had begun at Sungai Pinang in the late 1990s.
Sungai Pinang is the main cause of flash floods in most low-lying areas of George Town, especially Jalan P Ramlee (Caunter Hall Road).
The Penang government says if the RM350 million it had requested for flood mitigation had been allocated earlier on, the floods could have been averted.
Recently, the federal government approved RM150 million under the second rolling plan of the Budget 2017.
Penang intends to implement the PTMP which encompasses roads, LRT lines, trams and bus rapid transit lines.
In order to fund the entire RM27billion PTMP, the state government plans to reclaim 4,100 acres (1,660 hectares) in Permatang Damar Laut to make three islands, a project currently awaiting the detailed environmental impact assessment report.