KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has appointed a consultant to redesign the drainage system in the capital to address flood woes, Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim told Parliament today. 

He said the consultant will look into revamping monsoon and roadside drains for better water flow. 

“This is to improve the ability of the drains to hold rainwater based on the Annual Recurrence Interval 200. 

“The consultant has been asked to complete this study in 12 months,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today while replying to points raised by lawmakers during an emergency motion to debate Monday’s flooding in Kuala Lumpur.

Shahidan (Arau-BN) had denied claims by Fong Kui Lung (Bukit Bintang-PH), who asked whether DBKL had failed to manage the cleaning of rivers and drains on a regular basis after the floods at the end of 2021. 

Fong and other opposition lawmakers called on the authorities to give an explanation on the flash floods that inundated the city on Monday. 

Earlier today, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun allowed a special motion by Fong to discuss Monday’s flash floods in Kuala Lumpur.  

During the debate, Fong said that raising flood issues in Dewan Rakyat had become a yearly affair. 

“I have raised this issue many times. During Monday’s floods, hundreds of vehicles were trapped and many people had to be evacuated from their homes. 

“The drainage system is unsatisfactory, the rubbish is not cleared, which is causing the floods.” 

He said that the government had upgraded the drainage system but floods keep recurring. 

“KL should be free of flash floods. It’s clear: we don’t have proper planning to free KL from flash floods.”

The lawmakers had also questioned the Federal Territories Ministry on what action it has taken since the floods in December. 

Last year, heavy rainfall before and over the weekend of December 17 to 18 caused massive flooding in several states, including Selangor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Perak and Pahang. 

The floods had displaced more than 70,000 people at its height and killed 54. Selangor was one of the worst-hit states.

Debating the motion, Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai-PH) said it is now a phobia for city folk and those in the Klang Valley each time there is a downpour in the capital – a legacy of last year’s December floods.

“Every time there is a flood, people’s properties are damaged and they incur huge losses. Where is the post-mortem report on what happened? 

“We also want a report on how much funds the government has given to flood victims.”

Fahmi also wants Putrajaya to allow MPs to be involved in agencies tasked with handling the floods. 

“Put aside politics. Involve all MPs, so we also can help.”

On Monday’s floods, Shahidan said they were not caused by non-functioning retention ponds.

“In fact, the (six) ponds functioned with sufficient capacity to accommodate rainwater and have operated in accordance with the standard operating procedure (SOP). 

“However, I was informed by the Irrigation and Drainage Department that the retention pond in Sg Bunus was found to be unable to accommodate (accumulated) rainwater that had exceeded its capacity. 

“This caused water to overflow to the surrounding area.” 

Shahidan added that the Irrigation and Drainage Department is implementing a flood mitigation project at the Police Training Centre (Pulapol) in addition to building flood-retaining walls in several areas to prevent a recurrence of overflow from the Boyan Flood Reservoir. – March 9, 2022.