Malaysia will be seeking expertise from the Netherlands to improve the country’s flood mitigation systems as well as to reduce flood management expenditure, prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has said.
The assistance from the Netherlands could reduce Malaysia’s flood management expenditure which currently runs into billions of ringgit each year, The Star reported. Flooding in Malaysia is a regular occurrence, and yesterday a thunderstorm of 30 minutes caused flooding in I-City, Shah Alam.
“I explained to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte the need to improve the capacity of rivers to tackle the floods we face every year. I also explained to him that, of late, our expenditure on floods has hit RM15 billion. Rutte said, with expertise and new technology, maybe the cost need not be as high,” Anwar said.
A special report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia on the impact of floods in the country revealed that Malaysia had suffered RM622.4 million in losses due to floods in 2022, of which vehicle losses totalled RM18.8 million.
The sum of losses was even greater in 2021, when RM6.1 billion in losses was recorded. Floods highlight the need for Special Perils coverage against disasters, and last year some 59% of Malaysian motorists did not have adequate protection against flood damage, according to a report by Zurich Malaysia.
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