THE Penang government today expressed its disappointment with the RM250 the federal government would hand out to each household affected by floods in the state last year.

The amount is half the usual aid given to disaster victims in other states, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

“The federal government only gave RM5.6 million to 22,534 households involved in the worst storm and flood in Penang’s history,” he said, referring to the November 4 and 5 storm last year that forced 12,500 people to be evacuated.

“We are disappointed that each affected household only received RM250 when the federal government had promised to consider giving RM500 per household.

“This raises the question why Penang disaster victims only get RM250 when those in other states get RM500 per household,” he said in a statement today.

Lim, who is also Bagan MP, was commenting to the reply he received in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday on the federal government’s aid for Penang flood victims.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim said the federal government planned to use funds from the National Disaster Relief Trust Fund (KWABBN).

He said the RM5,633,500 in aid would be channelled to the households in the middle this month.

Lim said Penang did not expect the federal government to match RM700 the state government gave to each household.

“We only hope to get the same amount of aid given to flood victims in other states. We hope the amount can be increased to RM500 per household,” he said.

The Pakatan Harapan Penang government set aside nearly RM36.65 million to aid 52,353 households affected by last year’s storm. 

Part of the money came from the RM19.26 million raised from corporate and individuals donors supporting the state’s “Penang Bangkit” initiative. – March 13, 2018.