Projects to widen and deepen rivers to get priority for funds

PUTRAJAYA: The Finance Ministry (MoF) has been instructed to give top priority to requests for funds to expedite projects to widen and deepen rivers which were found to have caused floods, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the MoF could channel any unused allocations to the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) for the purpose.

“DID has a full list of the rivers but they need to be more proactive and be quick to resolve the matter,” he told a press conference after chairing the federal management and disaster relief committee meeting here yesterday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said that although the DID had been carrying out river widening and deepening projects, apparently such efforts were still insufficient and major floods had occurred.

He said that with the coming monsoon season, it was important to expedite such work so that water from the rivers could flow uninterrupted into the sea.

On a separate matter, Dr Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said he had not been informed by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar whether the police had opened any Investigation Paper (IP) on reports by news­papers that there was a political conspiracy involving several Opposition leaders to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said it was Standard Operating Procedure for the police to open an IP before taking further action.