Funds totalling RM50m had been allocated to 32 PBT for undertaking repairs of public infrastructure and facilities

by BERNAMA / pic by TMR FILE

FIVE states — Kelantan, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (KL), Melaka, Terengganu and Perak — have achieved 100% disbursement of Bantuan Wang Ihsan (BWI) to heads of households affected by the recent floods, said Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (picture).

The PM said the BWI, or compassionate aid, payments for Negri Sembilan had reached 82.7%, Pahang (65.5%) and Selangor (47.6%).

The authorities are expected to finish disbursing BWI to all households affected by the first wave of flooding by tomorrow, he said in a statement yesterday. Certain states have already been hit by the second wave of flooding.

He said as of Sunday, BWI had been distributed to 28,258 or 61.2% of the 46,162 affected household heads while 38 next-of-kin of 51 people who perished in the floods had received Funeral Management BWI.

“To ensure a faster and more effective BWI distribution process, the Implementation Coordination Unit has set up a command centre to do daily real-time monitoring beginning Dec 27, 2021,” he added.

Ismail Sabri also advised those who received government assistance through electronic fund transfers to be wary of unscrupulous parties who might take advantage of the situation to scam them.

The PM said he chaired the Northeast Monsoon 2021/2022 Post-Flood Disaster Management Task Force Special Meeting (MTL 2021/2022) yesterday and was given an update on the actions taken by the six clusters set up to manage northeast monsoon post-flood initiatives.

Ismail Sabri also said the Housing and Local Government Ministry reported that as of Sunday, cleaning-up works for KL and Melaka had reached 100%, followed by Negri Sembilan (95%), Selangor (82%) and Pahang (77%), with an estimated 53,800 tonnes of flood waste having been managed using 2,730 units of machinery.

He said funds totalling RM50 million had been allocated to 32 local authorities (PBT) for undertaking repairs of public infrastructure and facilities, including socio-economic and safety works.

“The repair works and construction of new houses involved 32 PBT which have received a total of RM50 million,” he said.

Ismail Sabri also said the Works Ministry reported that 895 disaster locations had been detected throughout MTL 2021/2022, involving floods, flash floods, slope failures, collapsed roads, sinkholes and broken or damaged bridges.

He said rehabilitation initiatives would cost a total of RM967.2 million.

He said cleaning-up activities had been completed at 802 locations while permanent repair works would begin this month and are expected to be completed in June.