THE Penang government should be as serious in tackling flood woes as it is in solving the state’s traffic problems, state opposition leader Jahara Hamid said.

The Teluk Air Tawar representative from Barisan Nasional said the state had been willing to sell land and spend hundreds of millions of ringgit on the Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP) feasibility study.

Following last weekend’s storm that resulted in 80% of Penang being under water, she said the Penang government needed to review its strategy and to have a master plan for drainage.

“It is time the state puts the same priority on flood mitigation projects and drainage.

“Even the backbenchers in this House are disappointed, frustrated, shedding tears, and some want to leave the party,” Jahara said at the state legislative assembly sitting this morning while debating the state’s Budget 2018. 

The PTMP is a comprehensive transport plan to tackle Penang’s traffic woes. It includes new highways, a rail  system and buses. 

To fund the master plan, the state is planning to reclaim three islands off the southern coast of the island. The land will be auctioned off to raise money for the implementation of the multibillion ringgit master plan.

Jahara said there must be a comprehensive plan to tackle floods in Penang that took into account climate change and non-structural measures.

“We cannot just look at widening and deepening rivers and drains. We also must have a warning system that helps the public respond to flash flood emergencies,” she said.

She also urged the state government to make sure developers follow the urban storm water management manual and other rules when they carry out their projects.

Jahara also highlighted environmental concerns and reiterated several recommendations recently made by Penang’s civil society on flash floods and hill land developments.

“The state must stop all hill land and slope projects by not approving them, and review such projects like what Prime Minister Najib Razak had said,” she said.

Najib visited flood victims in Penang yesterday and was briefed on the disaster.

Jahara also urged the government to review the special projects category, which allowed development on hill land 76m above sea level and on slopes with a gradient exceeding 25º; and to identify and declare hill areas that were unsafe.

She also called for stern action against those who clear hill land and slopes illegally, rehabilitation for such sites, better monitoring of hills and projects by developers, and for green space to be preserved.

“Why does the state look unkindly upon these recommendations that Penang Forum has been making in the interest of Penang?” she said.

Jahara was referring to the coalition of non-governmental organisations that had been critical of the state government over concerns of overdevelopment and hill land projects.

She acknowledged the RM10 million allocation the state set aside under its Budget 2018 for hill slope protection, a study on climate change and to address illegal farming on hills.

“It is too small and too late, coming only 10 years after the current administration came into power,” she said.

Jahara also addressed concerns about reclamation projects in the state.

“Sea harvesting changes our coasts and affects our marine ecosystem. The fisheries are affected. Once they are gone we cannot get them back.

“Why must we and the generations after us pay for this? The coasts and the sea should be preserved and protected.”

Apart from the South Penang Reclamation proposed by the state to fund the PTMP, several other reclamation projects are now under way off the northern and southeastern coast of the island. – November 8, 2017.