RM200k allocated to repair bridge damaged in recent floods: Chow

GEORGE TOWN: Penang has embarked on a mission with the Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID) to salvage a bridge from collapsing following the recent flash floods which displaced up to 100,000 people during its height.
Emergency funds of RM200,000 have been allocated to repair the bridge at Sungai Dondang in Air Itam, said Penang Local Government, Traffic and Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow.
Remedial works to prop up the bridge began on Nov 13, and it is scheduled to be completed by Jan 13 next year.
If the concrete bridge is not repaired, its collapse would affect hundreds of road users, who use it daily to commute between the working class neighbourhood of Air Itam to Bandar Baru Air Itam, the new township area.
"The floods and the ensuing mud flow have further eroded the bridge's foundation.
"To mitigate the erosion, the river will be deepened by 300m and the DID engineers will repair the 40m of sheet piling wall and rebuild a retention wall."
"This is to ensure the river flows smoothly," he said when visiting the site.
He was accompanied by the state DID director Mohd Azmin Hussin, DID northeast district engineer Nortilawati Osman and Air Itam assemblyman Wong Hon Wai.
The flash floods on Nov 4 till Nov 5 is said to be worst in the history of Penang had caused havoc on island and mainland.
Nortilawati said the DID will be working around the clock to ensure everything could be completed by next month despite the project being given a January deadline.
"We will try our best," she said, adding the authorities were also cleaning up the sediments in the river banks near Jalan Scotland and Batu Lanchang respectively.