Rubbish can be seen behind the Bohol pond.
THE sight of otters splashing around in water is a delight to watch.
They and the egrets, painted storks, kingfisher and white crested laughing thrush are just some of the many species found at the Bohol flood retention pond in Kuala Lumpur.
The pond spanning 37.8ha (equivalent to 63 football fields) is gazetted as reserve land for recreation and is part of Lot 102996.
It is one of 15 flood retention ponds to mitigate floods in the capital city.
The land belongs to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and is under the purview of the Kuala Lumpur mayor and Federal Territories Department (formerly Federal Territories Ministry).
However, 0.75ha has been proposed to be alienated to accommodate a residential development involving affordable housing (40%) and residential condominiums (60%).
After the Dec 18, 2021 and March 7, 2022 floods, residents in the Kinrara area raised concerns about floods due to the impact of development.
A family of otters spotted at the Bohol pond.
StarMetro had reported two weeks after the March 7 floods that floodwaters from Sungai Kuyoh/Bohol pond were so strong that it broke into the perimeter fencing of a monsoon drain in Jalan TK 2/9, resulting in knee-high water in Taman Kinrara 1 and 2.
“This was the second time the fencing had collapsed since the Dec 18 floods,” said long-time resident John Chelliah.
“Heavy rain caused water levels in Sungai Klang to increase and the backflow from Sungai Kuyoh. This caused the Bohol pond to overflow and flood onto the Kesas highway and neighbouring Kinrara residential area.”
He recounted the sight of vehicles stranded on the highway with people waiting in their cars.
When StarMetro visited the site recently, apart from the family of otters, everything else about the area was in a dismal state.
There was rubbish everywhere, with precast culverts abandoned there. It was clear that someone had been dumping factory waste at the site.
Some of the flood walls leading into the pond were also falling apart.
In June 2019, former Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director-general Datuk Abdullah Isnin had written to the then Natural Resources and Environment Ministry requesting permission to gazette the Bohol pond. His application was rejected.
A second application was made in writing to the Federal Territories Ministry’s secretary-general in 2020 by the then Kuala Lumpur DID deputy director Ratna Rajah Sivapiragasam.
The ministry’s then secretary-general, Datuk Seri Rosida Jaafar, who is now the department’s director-general, turned down the application.
However, Rosida had assured that Bohol pond would remain a flood retention pond.
