PENANG BUSINESS OWNERS LAMENT MASSIVE FLOOD LOSSES
Their warehouses inundated, goods damaged and losses estimated at RM1 million
THE devastating floods in Penang had left some business owners staring at losses of up to RM1 million and others having to rebuild their lives.
A drive along Bukit Mertajam yesterday showed workers busy cleaning up premises with piles of boxes containing damaged goods laid along the roadside for council workers to clear.
Municipal council’s lorries were seen making their rounds to remove the boxes.
Business owner Teoh Eng Leong, 54, said his warehouse was engulfed by the floods, causing his inventory of household items and clothes to be destroyed.
“I have been running my business from this place for 20 years.
“This is the first time such a thing has happened here.
“I was caught by surprise when a friend called me when I was in Indonesia and told me my warehouse was flooded.
“I rushed home the very next day only to find my stock worth about RM1 million submerged.”
Not far from Teoh’s warehouse, a vegetable wholesaler lamented his loss of RM50,000 due to the floods.
“I really need time to recover from this loss. All of my vegetables are gone. My car and forklift were damaged,” Law Ong Soon said.
When met, the 65-year-old was busy overseeing his workers piling up boxes of rotten vegetables near his shoplot.
Food stall operators at a food court in Jalan Perak here were reeling from losses suffered.
Many of them said their electrical appliances were damaged in the floods.
One of the operators, Fauzi Nasir, 50, said he suffered RM60,000 in losses.
“Everything is damaged. The fridge, especially, is expensive and I don’t know where to get money to buy a new one,” he said, adding that he would be forced to close for at least a week for the repair and clean-up.
A real estate consultant said the authorities in Penang need to take another look at its development approval process following what had happened in the state.
Far Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Faizul Azwan Ridzuan said this was to address concerns among potential property purchasers.
Noting that property prices were already on a down-trend, he said Penang had seen a drop in prices of properties above RM300,000 in the last two years.
Faizul said he expected the situation to continue, especially for premium-priced properties.
On whether he foresaw consumer sentiment and property market in the state to be dampened, he said Penang had experienced a transaction slowdown in the last three years.
Property developer Uda Holdings Bhd group managing director Datuk Ahmad Abu Bakar said the company’s ventures in Penang were not affected as its developments were far from riverbanks and hillslopes.