KUALA NERUS: Cloud seed­ing oper­a­tions will be con­duc­ted in Johor, Kedah and Perak after water levels at sev­eral dams dropped due to pro­longed hot weather, says Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Deputy Prime Min­is­ter said the oper­a­tions will be car­ried out from today until Sunday.

“Although dam levels remain at the alert stage, early action is needed to pre­vent them from reach­ing crit­ical levels,” he told report­ers after a Rural and Regional Devel­op­ment Min­istry retreat, Bernama repor­ted.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also National Dis­aster Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee chair­man, said cloud seed­ing will take place at the Upper Lay­ang, Pulai 1 and Machap dams in Johor today, Thursday and Sunday.

There will be cloud seed­ing exer­cises at the Pedu, Muda and Ahning dams in Kedah, as well as Bukit Merah Dam in Perak on Fri­day and Sat­urday.

On another mat­ter, Ahmad Zahid said com­pan­ies owned by agen­cies under his min­istry must oper­ate as com­pet­it­ive, sus­tain­able entit­ies with a per­form­ance-driven approach that deliv­ers tan­gible bene­fits to the people.

He said in a com­pet­it­ive cor­por­ate envir­on­ment, every lead­er­ship team must be brave in mak­ing stra­tegic decisions for the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of the organ­isa­tion.

“I am con­fid­ent that with bold lead­er­ship and con­sist­ent dis­cip­lined exe­cu­tion, the min­istry’s agency-owned com­pan­ies can become cata­lysts for a more pro­gress­ive and sus­tain­able rural eco­nomy,” he said, adding that these points were con­veyed dur­ing the retreat.

Ahmad Zahid said trans­par­ent, high-integ­rity and high-per­form­ance gov­ernance must under­pin com­pany man­age­ment.

He said the earlier trans­ition from a cost centre to a profit centre was start­ing to yield res­ults, with sub­si­di­ar­ies report­ing higher rev­enue and stronger profits.

“However, these achieve­ments are only a found­a­tion for fur­ther pro­gress.

“The next pri­or­ity is to ensure all profits are trans­lated into bene­fits for the people through optimal asset util­isa­tion, strength­en­ing the rural industry value chain, and lever­aging data as a new source of rev­enue gen­er­a­tion.”

KUALA NERUS - Beberapa operasi pembenihan awan akan dilaksanakan di tiga negeri iaitu Johor, Kedah dan Perak mulai esok hingga Ahad (15 Februari) ini.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi berkata, operasi pembenihan awan itu dibuat berikutan paras air beberapa empangan di negeri tersebut semakin menyusut disebabkan cuaca panas yang berterusan.

Ahmad Zahid yang juga Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negara berkata, lokasi yang terlibat dengan operasi pembenihan awan tersebut ialah Empangan Upper Layang, Empangan Pulai 1 dan Empangan Machap di Johor, masing-masing akan dilakukan pada esok, Khamis dan Ahad.

Pada Jumaat dan Sabtu pula, katanya, lokasi yang terlibat ialah Empangan Pedu, Empangan Muda dan Empangan Ahning di Kedah serta Empangan Bukit Merah di Perak. - Bernama