The National Water Resource Policy launched by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin here Saturday in conjunction with the national-level World Water Day 2012 celebration will provide a clear direction for the management of the important resource in line with global climate change and population increase, said Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas.
He said for the first time, the country would have a policy which coordinated all water related agencies, parties and departments for a more sustainable water management programme.
“The structural issue, with the federal government and states responsible for water, will be unified by a single policy that will coordinate all parties on water management, ” he told reporters after the opening of national-level World Water Day 2012 and the launching of the water policy at Dataran Pinggiran Sungai Kerian here.
Muhyiddin was represented by Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui, who read out the text of his speech.
The World Water Day 2012 celebration was jointly organised by the Minister of Natural Resources, UNESCO-International Hidrological Programme (IHP) Malaysia as well as the Drainage and Irrigation Department, which attracted more than 15,000 people from the local community, will be held for five days here. In another development, Uggah said the Sungai Kerian Basin Flood Mitigation Plan would have 23 packages with two packages starting soon.
He said the first package involved upgrading the bund from Sungai Kerian to Tebing Tinggi through Alor Pongsu over a distance of 35 kilometers, construction of bund in Sungai Semang, Sungai Rawa and Sungai Ijok for 20 kilometers as well as upgrading bund of Sungai Kerian, Sungai Ijok and Sungai Selama over a distance of 87 km and the construction of a pump house in Sungai Kerian.
On January 14 2011, when opening the Farmers, Breeders and Fishermen Day in Padang Bandaran here, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the approval of a RM490mil allocation for the flood mitigation project to overcome the problem in the entire Kerian basin involving the northern part of Perak, Penang and Kedah.
