MORE than 200 residents of Felcra Semungkis in Hulu Langat, Selangor are seeing red over the construction of the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) in front of their homes.

They said the construction of the mega highway has caused flash floods, damaged roads and landslips since development started a year ago.

Spokeperson Junaidi Jamaluddin, 39 said the nightmare started on September 1, 2016.

“Our lives changed when logging started. Since then, there has been one disaster after another.

“Flash floods had occurred five times. We are living in fear when it rains,” he said.

Junaidi said the worst incident occurred on November 11 at the religious schools where 250 students – aged seven to 17 – are studying.

“There are three Thafiz schools and an orphanage. Flash floods occurred within 15 minutes and destroyed the children’s clothes, school books, furniture, appliances and other items.

“We were lucky none of the children got caught in the floods,” he said.

Junaidi said after numerous complaints to the various authorities the Department of  Environment (DOE) issued a stop work order on October 24.

However, the developer ignored the order and are still continuing construction.

“We are worried because the development is taking place on a hillslope less than 10 metres from our homes where two landslips had occurred.

“Are they (developer) waiting for a tragedy to occur before taking action?” he said.

Junaidi also said EKVE had destroyed their water source which was 200 metres from their home.

“Eighty percent of our water is from Bukit Seputeh river but they had to divert it and now we have to walk more than 1km to get water,” he said.

Junaidi said residents want the Selangor government to stop the construction and get the developer to rehabilitate the area.

“We want the developer to build drainages and divert the water that is causing the floods.

“We also want compensation from the developer for destroying the water source and compensation for the items that was destroyed by the floods in the schools and orphanage.

“We also want a panel to monitor EKVE and we want residents to be on the panel,” he said.

The RM1.55bil EKVE will be a dual carriageway with toll plazas at five interchanges, at Sungai Long, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, Hulu Langat, Ampang and Ukay Perdana interchanges.

Environmenatl groups Peka Malaysia, TrEES and Malaysian Nature Society are calling for the developer to stop work and start rehabilitating the area.

Peka president Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil said an environmental audit needs to be done immediately to assess the issues and take necessary action.

“Incidents have already occurred. I can’t image what’s going to happen along the stretch of expressway.

“Don’t do development that will destroy the environment,” she said.

Shariffa said the authorities need to act before any disaster happens that will cause loss of life.

“The project needs to be halted and the wildlife and water source issues needs to be addressed. 

“The developer must also provide a 24 hour call centre for the safety of the residents,” she said. – November 29, 2017.