This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on March 13, 2023 - March 19, 2023

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last week ordered flood mitigation projects, especially those in Johor, to be expedited and the tender process for such projects to be done as soon as possible. This was reassuring to hear, given that floods in the country have become a regular occurrence in recent times. Even Anwar acknowledged that floods have increased in frequency, sometimes twice a year.

In December, after he took up the portfolio of finance minister, he ordered a review of RM7 billion worth of approvals under a RM15 billion flood mitigation project that were conducted through direct negotiation under the previous government led by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Last week, Anwar said Putrajaya would reissue tenders for the six affected flood mitigation projects — latest by June — and this could potentially save the government RM2 billion out of the RM15 billion previously allocated.

Let’s hope the government will move quickly on the tenders for the flood mitigation projects and the companies awarded the contracts do a good job so that the damaging floods can be brought under control. This is not only a political matter, but rather one that affects lives and livelihoods.

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