PASIR MAS (Dec 26): The Kelantan government will hold further discussions with the federal government to overcome flood issues, especially standing waters faced by residents in several villages around Rantau Panjang here.

Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Nassuruddin Daud said there were a lot of complaints from villagers previously regarding the construction of the Sungai Golok integrated river basin development (IRBD) project that caused the level of floodwaters to rise and the occurrence of standing waters.

“These flood victims hope that the federal government will conduct a study on the wall’s construction. The state government does understand that the wall has yet to be completed.

“To me, maybe the federal government needs to think of something before the project is completed, so that water can flow smoothly and not cause standing waters,” he told reporters after visiting flood evacuees at the relief centre at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sri Kiambang here on Tuesday.

On suggestions by villagers that a tunnel or a canal be built to channel floodwaters away, he said it should be done if such a solution was based on a study.

“There are claims that floods here (Pasir Mas and Rantau Panjang) are worse than in 2014, and that the water level is higher because of the wall.

“We don’t want to avoid flood issues as it does happen frequently, but something needs to be done to ensure that the water level isn’t high and standing waters don’t occur,” he said.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability previously stated that there would be some modification to the Sungai Golok IRBD project in Pengkalan Teluk, Rantau Panjang, Kelantan due to the occurence of standing waters in the area.

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