JOHOR BARU – The Johor government is intensifying its efforts to reduce stagnant floodwater in Batu Pahat district using water pumps, ahead of Ramadan next week.
Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said that although the flood situation in the state is gradually improving, some areas in Batu Pahat are still submerged by stagnant floodwater, including Sri Medan, Parit Jelutong, and Parit Raja.
He said the state government did not want the issue to continue for long as it had before and hoped it could be resolved before Ramadan.
“Alhamdulillah, I had the opportunity to inspect the floodwater pumping operations at the Parit Jelutong, Sg Senggarang water intake and Air Asam Kumbang water intake (in Batu Pahat).
“To speed up the process, the state government through the Irrigation and Drainage Department is using water pumps in those areas.
“A total of 61 water pumps with a capacity of two, five, 10 and 20 cubic feet per second are operating 24 hours a day and 12 more pumps will be added,” he said in a Facebook post today.
The Machap assemblyman also said that taking lessons from the incident, the state government is also working on other alternatives to resolve the issue, including deepening the main river in the district.
“The southern volunteers’ post-flood mission will also carry out post-flood works in the Batu Pahat district for four days starting tomorrow involving the local authorities, youth organisations, non-governmental organisations, and corporate bodies involving 531 volunteers,” he said.
21,079 evacuees are still housed in 83 temporary relief centres in Batu Pahat and Segamat, as of noon today. – Bernama, March 18, 2023
