Kedah govt to continue paying rental fee for Baling flood victims

ALOR SETAR - The Kedah government will continue paying the rental fee for temporary accommodations of flood and water surge victims in Baling last July until the construction of new houses to relocate them is completed.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the construction of the 17 units of houses was supposed to be completed last month.

"I will discuss it with the Baling District Officer because our aim was to have the houses fully completed in December and the state government has been paying monthly rental fees for the victims for six months.

"However, we are already in January and the houses are still not completed. So, we will continue paying their rental fee until the houses are completed,” he told reporters after delivering the Menteri Besar mandate to Kedah civil servants in Seri Mentaloon here today.

On July 6, 2022, Sanusi announced that the state government would pay six months' worth of temporary accommodation rent for villagers who lost their homes in the devastating debris floods and water surge incidents in Baling on July 4, 2022.

A total of 41 villages in the Baling district were affected in the worst-ever flood disaster in Baling, which also claimed three lives, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, and resulted in losses amounting to RM28 million.

Asked when the houses will be completed, Muhammad Sanusi said he will ask the developer for a report on the progress of the project.

"In any case, it cannot be delayed until February because our target was December,” he added.

Earlier in his speech, Sanusi hoped that all civil servants in Kedah would fulfil every responsibility entrusted to them wholeheartedly and with full dedication to help the state government implement the policies that have been decided to bring prosperity to Kedah. - BERNAMA