Min­is­ter of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Khadi­jah Ameen says flood mit­i­ga­tion ef­forts have been un­der­way for months, fol­low­ing con­cerns raised by res­i­dents in sev­er­al flood-prone com­mu­ni­ties who fear not enough has been done to pre­vent an­oth­er ma­jor flood­ing event.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia in San Juan yes­ter­day, Ameen said the Gov­ern­ment’s an­nu­al flood mit­i­ga­tion pro­gramme be­gan on May 1.

“On the first of May, we start­ed our flood mit­i­ga­tion pro­gramme. That in­cludes clear­ing wa­ter­cours­es that lead to these ma­jor rivers. The Min­istry of Works is strength­en­ing river­banks, re­mov­ing grass and oth­er de­bris that block wa­ter­cours­es, and re­pair­ing flood­gates so that wa­ter does not flow back in­to com­mu­ni­ties. We do have a pro­gramme go­ing on. Of course, we still have more work to do,” she said.