THE Penang government today announced that it will give flood victims another RM200 in cash aid as relief.

Last week, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Air Putih) announced a RM500 relief cash aid for every household or business premises affected by the November 4 and 5 storm and flash floods.

“The state will now top up the aid. So, the one-off payment is now RM700.

“This is the highest amount ever paid to flood victims in the country,” he said in his winding-up speech at the state legislative assembly today.

The extra aid will come from donations the Penang government has been receiving for the flood disaster relief fund.

Lim said the donations would be fully used for flood relief, with RM20 million set aside for the extra cash aid.

He said if the amount was not enough, the state government would chip in.

To date, he said, the donations received from various organisations and the public had reached RM9.6 million, with the amount expected to increase.

He said he hoped that the federal government would announce some relief aid for flood victims.

“We are not saying the federal government is not helping. We are just asking for cash aid. Why can’t they do it?”

Earlier in his speech, he said what he had been asking from Putrajaya was “bantuan” (aid), and that he was not accusing the Barisan Nasional federal administration of not helping.

“We are asking Prime Minister Najib Razak for financial aid. RM1 billion for 13 flood-mitigation projects was previously approved by Putrajaya under several Malaysia Plans.

“We have said before that RM1.6 billion approved for flood-mitigation projects in Penang has not been channelled to the state. We are asking for only RM1 billion.

“But, Utusan Malaysia twisted my words to make it sound like I accused the federal government of not helping. It helped, but it did not give aid.”

Lim said the state was not relying on just the federal government for aid, having started the RM105 million Penang Bangkit programme to get Penang and the lives of its citizens back to normal after the disaster, which was the state’s worst flooding in 30 years.

Later, during a press conference at the state legislative assembly lobby, Lim said the state government expected to record a deficit for the first time since the opposition took over the Penang government in 2008.

“In Budget 2017, we estimated a deficit of RM667 million, but we were heading towards a surplus. But with the flood disaster, we may be seeing a deficit this year.

“We will have to look at the extent of the damage to know how much.” – November 14, 2017.