Bad news for litterbugs in Penang, for the state government is planning to increase fines from RM500 to RM5,000 soon.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the new sewer under Jalan Transfer and Jalan Hutton was so big that even a car could go through it.

He joked, "If people who like to litter know that the sewer is big enough to throw a car in, they would probably do so."

Lim said he was told that the fine for the act of littering was merely RM500.

"Such a punishment is insufficient, considering the large amount we had spent on flood mitigation," Lim said.

He urged the local authorities to look into the possibility of increasing the fine - probably up to 10 times or RM5,000 - on those who throw garbage into the river.

He clarified that the proposal to increase the fine to RM5,000 only referred to those who throw rubbish into the river.

"Punishment for other littering behaviour can also be increased but not necessarily up to RM5,000," Lim said.

Lim mooted the idea of a more stringent punishment for litterbugs when launching a RM5.86 million flood mitigation project along Jalan Transfer and Jalan Hutton.

Penang Island City Council (MBPP) president Patahiyah Ismail said the council's legal adviser would have to study whether it was legal to increase the fine.

"Currently, all littering offences are imposed a fine of RM500," she said.

The Penang government has been criticised for not addressing effectively a series of flash floods that occurred in the state during the Deepavali celebrations and in November.

However, the state government blamed the previous “sleeping” BN administration for failing to resolve the flood problems.

Accompanying Lim at the event was also Penang executive councillor in charge of local government, traffic and flood mitigation Chow Kon Yeow.

RM220 million for flood mitigation

During his speech, Lim said the MBPP had spent RM3,230,295.95 in 2014 for drainage system upgrade in Lebuhraya Pykett, Jalan Logan, Jalan Cantonment, Jalan Residensi, Jalan MacAlister and Gat Lebuh Pasar.

In 2015, MBPP spent RM5,293,491.08 for drainage upgrade works at Jalan Burma, Jalan Kelawei, Jalan Pengkalan Weld, Jalan Residensi, Jalan Anson and Lintang Bayan Lepas.

For 2016, the state had approved an allocation of RM8,865,919.90 for drainage system upgrade and flood mitigation works to would be carried out by MBPP.

Lim said the state government had approved RM59 million to be allocated to several state agencies to carry out studies and flood mitigation projects on the island (RM36 million) and Seberang Perai (RM23 million).

For 2017, a total of RM220 million - the biggest amount in the history of Penang - had been budgeted for flood mitigation works, Lim said.

“The RM220 million is necessary to address the challenges of extraordinary flash floods that occurred in the interiors, areas where there are no ongoing development projects,” he added.