Flood-hit homes being repaired

Dept: Work on orang asli houses has started

KUALA LUMPUR: Repair work on flood-damaged homes of orang asli has begun but the building of houses to replace those destroyed is still being sorted out.

Department of Orang Asli Development director-general Datuk Hasnan Hassan gave his assurance that repairs would be completed by the third week of April.

As for the rebuilding of the houses that were completely destroyed, he said he could not say when as this was being carried out by the Public Works Department (JKR).

“We handed the list of names of those affected to the National Security Council in January,” he said.

The Star reported on Monday that orang asli houses at the Temengor Dam in Perak remained submerged, three months after severe floods hit several states.

The flood victims were seen still living in tents and makeshift bamboo huts.

According to the department’s records, 40,000, or 20%, of the 205,000 orang asli in the peninsula were affected by the floods, which occurred between Dec 5 and Jan 5.

The total number of houses needing repairs was 267 – 137 in Pahang, 29 in Perak and 101 in Kelantan – at a cost of RM1.37mil, RM290,000 and RM1.01mil, respectively.

As for houses which needed to be rebuilt, the total was 172 – 57 in Pahang, 26 in Perak and 89 in Kelantan – costing RM1.248mil, RM2.736mil and RM4.272mil, respectively.

However, none of the orang asli houses has been rebuilt so far.

Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the Department of Orang Asli Development, the state governments and the National Security Council (MKN) were in the process of co-ordinating and verifying ownerships and land titles.

Hasnan said rebuilding work should not be delayed anymore as the people were suffering.

Datuk Zaki Ansore Mohd Yusof, head of the Post Flood Recovery Unit set up by the Cabinet, said construction of houses for owners who had their own land could be completed before the fasting month begins on June 18 but those who did not have land would have to wait longer.

As for the special land rights of the orang asli, he said the unit would liaise with the district officers and Works Ministry.

He said it would be less strict on insisting on land titles, as most orang asli did not have them.

As of yesterday, he said the unit had recorded a total of 2,200 houses to be built for flood victims nationwide, including for orang asli.

Zaki Ansore said 382 houses were already in the process of construction while 192 out of the 6,700 houses had been repaired.