JOHOR BARU, March 26 — A total of 5,925 metric tonnes of rubbish was collected in the post-flood clean-up operation in Johor from March 3 until yesterday.

Deputy Local Government Development Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said that the amount of rubbish will continue to increase as the cleaning operation is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

He said the cleaning operation in Segamat was fully completed on March 19, while Batu Pahat was expected to be completed today.

"We expect the post-flood cleaning operation (as a whole) to be completed by the end of this month,” he said at a press conference after officiating the SWM Kasih Back to School programme, here today.

Also present were Johor SWCorp deputy director Rafidah Mohamed and SWM Environment Sdn Bhd Corporate Affairs general manager Mohd Norlisam Mohd Nordin.

Akmal Nasrullah said this when asked to comment on the amount of rubbish collected due to floods in Johor.

The Johor Baru Member of Parliament also said that the cleaning operation was carried out in phases and as many as six temporary disposal sites had also been created before the rubbish was taken to the actual disposal site to ensure that the cleaning operation could be carried out promptly.

He said the concession company also helped the village areas affected by floods which were not in the service area, through the cleaning operation.

Meanwhile, regarding the operation of the Ramadan bazaars in Johor, Mohd Norlisam called on the organisers and traders at 112 bazaar locations statewide to make use of the garbage bins provided to facilitate the cleaning operation.

"We also call on the public, especially while making preparations for Raya, please don’t pile rubbish at the end of housing estates or create illegal garbage sites,” he said. — Bernama