By Alang Bendahara
SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — The Selangor government has utilised almost all of the RM20 million in allocation for post-flood cleaning operations in areas that were hit by the deluge late last year, says Ng Sze Han.
The state executive councillor for local government said the total allocation for the clean-up process includes the first and second phases of the operation.
“The state has allocated RM20 million for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the post-flood clean-up operation. But, we have yet to know the exact amount spent so far, perhaps close to RM20 million, which includes the figure paid to KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd (KDEBWM), local councils and Worldwide Holdings Berhad,” he told Selangor Journal in an interview at the Selangor State Secretariat Building here, on February 11.
KDEBWM, a subsidiary company of the state government that fully-manages domestic waste collection, has undertaken the task to clear the flood-affected areas since December 20 last year in stages.
With the cooperation of local authorities and other agencies, approximately 78,000 tonnes of bulk waste were cleared, which had concluded on January 7.
Starting January 8, the company had conducted the second phase of the cleanup operations, focusing on the decontamination and clean-up process of clogged drains and ditches using effective microbiology technology.
“Worldwide Holdings are paid as they had to set up a new dumping site in Jeram for the bulk waste collected from the flood-hit areas.
“As for the cleaning process of clogged drains and ditches, it would still be ongoing even after the second phase of the cleanup operation has been completed,” said Ng.
Ng, who is also the state executive councillor in charge of the clean-up of flood-affected areas, said that the second phase of the cleaning operations is scheduled to complete by the end of March.
He said the state government had also planned to widen the drains and increase the height of river bunds as part of its plan to overcome the flood issues.
On December 21, 2021, the Selangor government had allocated RM100 million in funds under the ‘Ikhtiar Selangor Bangkit’ initiative to kickstart the recovery process after the state-wide flooding disaster.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said out of the total, RM20 million would be spent for cleaning and restoration operations while the remaining RM80 million would be used to rebuild damaged infrastructure.
He said the cleaning and restoration operations funds would include cleaning-up residential areas, restoring damaged infrastructure, health assistance, solid waste collection, and managing temporary relief centres (PPS).
