The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Johor spends RM100mil on flood mitigation projects over seven years
- Farmers to get RM110mil in yield incentive arrears
- Research on how to save mangrove forests, NGO urged
| Johor spends RM100mil on flood mitigation projects over seven years Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST BATU PAHAT: The Johor government had spent RM100mil over the last seven years to deepen and widen four rivers in the district as part of the flood mitigation effort. Penggaram assemblyman Datuk Koh Chee Chai said the project started in 2004 and completed last year. It involved works in Simpang Kanan River, Simpang Kiri River, Bekok River and and Batu Pahat River. "Now, we expect flood to reduce to minimum, however, all the relevant authorities and government agencies are still in high alert for any emergency," he after an annual year end dialogue organised by Sub-district Coordinator Committee (JPMM) in Penggaram contituency held at Chinese Chamber of Commerce building on Tuesday evening. Koh said besides rivers, the state government had also upgraded drainage in the town since 1999. Some RM70mil was spent to upgrade Jalan Sultanah underground drain as well as drains in Jalan Bakau Condong and Parit Dhobi, he added. Problems of two flood prone areas — Tanah Merah in Jalan Kluang and Taman Mewah behind the Batu Pahat Hospital - also been solved, Koh added. In a separate development, Koh said a total of RM50mil were also spent over the last eight years to upgrade roads in various residential areas in town. "Those tamans are more than 40 and 50 years and many roads in the residential areas need to be repaired and resurfaced," he said. The dialogue event was attended by police and council representatives as well as seven village heads, 42 branch representativies from Barisan Nasional companent parties under the Penggaram constituency. Koh said the event was held to discuss local issues and ways to improve infrastructures and social life in participants' respective housing areas or villages. Issues brought up during the dialogue, including needs to upgrade roads and bridges in certain villages, handling of waste, street lights, drainage and others. "All the issues have been recorded and would brought up to the respective government agencies and council," he added. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Farmers to get RM110mil in yield incentive arrears Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:31 PM PST JOHOR BARU: Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar said 73,291 paddy farmers throughout the country are set to receive RM110 million in arrears under the increased paddy yield incentive, in stages starting next month. Speaking after the launch of the MD2 Kulim Malaysia Berhad pineapple plantation project in Ladang Ulu Tiram, Johor, he said an initial group of 1,000 farmers in Selangor would receive the payment in three phases, starting Dec 4. "The incentive is paid to farmers who successfully increased their paddy yield since 2007," he said. "An increase of one metric tonne in yield qualifies the farmer to an incentive of RM650," he added saying an increase of 10 tonnes would qualify for RM1,300. On Nov 27, Noh Omar made an assurance that his ministry would pay the paddy yield incentive arrears to the farmers who had qualified for it. He explained that the ministry could not effect the payments earlier as it had not confirmed the exact number of farmers involved. The recent 2010 Auditor-General's Report stated that the ministry had yet to pay RM110.67 million in paddy yield incentives to 73,291 farmers since 2007. — Bernama Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Research on how to save mangrove forests, NGO urged Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:30 PM PST JOHOR BARU: A non-governmental organisation (NGO) urged proper studies to be conducted to save mangrove forests especially in Tanjung Piai and Pulau Kukup in Pontian. Malaysian Nature Society Johor branch chairman Vincent Chow said that the situation of mangrove forests especially in Tanjung Piai are quite worryingly. He explained that it is never too late to save the mangrove forests and the state government should conduct proper studies that would benefit the rehabilitation of mangrove forests in the long run. "The new method by the state national parks of mixing mangrove seedlings with sawdust onto soil could prove successful in a short term. "However, the area along the coastline is widely used by vessels where the shipping waves and sea waves have destroyed the mangroves," he said adding that such method may not be the smart way to save the mangroves forest. Chow also urged the state government to look back into the proposal to create a man-made island as a barrier to the strong waves. "Besides becoming a barrier, the man-made island could also help improve the livelihood of the local fishermen and its ecosystem. "Due to oil spills and constant pollution in the area, it has caused the numbers of fish and prawns to decrease," he said adding that the man-made island could also help reclaim some lands lost due to the depleting numbers of mangroves. It was recently reported that the state's mangrove forests are being depleted at a rate of 5,000 trees a year due to pollution and oil spills. The poor state of mangrove forests in Tanjung Piai had been identified and highlighted in the 2010 Auditor-General's report. The report also identified that sawdust which was acidic and contained heavy metals had caused the mangroves to die. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Metro: South & East To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan