By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, March 15 — The Selangor government has identified a comprehensive flood mitigation plan involving the combination of water retentions, lakes, dams and drainage systems with a cost of over RM7 billion.
State executive councillor for infrastructure Izham Hashim said that given the considerable cost needed to overcome the flood issues in Selangor, the state administration is still figuring out how to receive the funding as it would also involve the Federal government.
“We will tighten up the plan and bring forward the proposals to ensure it could be implemented either for the short, medium or long term.
“We have studied the plan from various angles, and hopefully, we could achieve it soon to ensure we could tackle the uncertain weather issues relating to climate change,” he told the Selangor State Legislative Assembly here today.
Izham was answering an oral question from Bukit Lanjan state assemblyman Elizabeth Wong Keat Ping regarding the flooding disaster in December last year.
The Pandan Indah state assemblyman said a holistic approach for the flood mitigation plan was divided into two categories, namely the structural and non-structural strategies.
“For the structural approach, there are three main components, namely retention ponds, drainage systems and discharge points, that we must abide by to prevent floods.
“The first would be monitoring the water level in water retention ponds, including dams, lakes and ponds. These days, the rainfall occurs in almost all areas, unlike when we could predict it to happen in the upstream regions.
Therefore, we have suggested reducing the water level in the retention ponds so that the area can accommodate rainfalls during the monsoon season.
“There are tens of lakes and rivers that we have audited, and this would reduce the water levels in preparation for the rainy days toward the end of the year,” he said.
Izham said for the second component, the state administration is proposing a dedicated water tunnel, and the cost would be included in the RM7 billion flood mitigation plan.
“The tunnel would be one of the drainage systems. Take the SMART Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur as an example.
However, the problem with this tunnel is that it diverts water from Kuala Lumpur into Selangor. This is why we need our own water tunnel.
“Lastly, is the discharge point, which has become one of the biggest problems that we have to encounter. Where do we discharge all this water? The normal practice is to discharge it to the sea. However, the high-tide phenomenon has forced us to resort to a more objective approach,” he said.
Izham said several other suggestions to tackle the flood issue include developing an underground storage system, building a large treatment pond system in Pulau Indah, and discharging excess water into the sea.
“All of these systems combined would require high cost. Therefore, we still need to review it,” he said.
Meanwhile, describing the recent December floods as an extraordinary phenomenon, Izham admitted that the state government only has the experience to manage flash floods but not on a larger scale as witnessed recently.
“We are used to dealing with flash floods, not massive floods. However, this does not mean that the state government has no competency.
“From the Menteri Besar down to the government officers, we have tried our best to help those affected during the incident. Let us make this as a lesson to learn,” he said.
