THE application to alienate the Bohol flood retention pond in Kuala Lumpur happened without the knowledge of then Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohd Ghazali.
Nor Hisham, was instrumental in preventing the Taman Desa retention pond in Kuala Lumpur from being developed.
“Had I still been DG (of DID), I would not have supported any move to (alienate the Bohol pond).
“As far as I know, I was no longer there when the application was made,’’ he said.
Nor Hisham was appointed DID director-general in February 2020 before being transferred out on Nov 30, 2021.
He was later appointed National Water Research Institute of Malaysia director-general.
Nor Hisham was commenting on the proposed alienation of the Bohol flood retention pond in Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur, for a housing development project.
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On May 8, StarMetro reported that six plots of land surrounding the Bohol flood retention pond has been proposed to be alienated (ownership transferred) to a private developer, with the approval of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Land Exco.
This was despite objections from various government agencies that alienating land surrounding flood retention ponds for development was a recipe for disaster.
Based on documents sighted by StarMetro, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur Land and Mines Office gave conditional approval to a company to alienate part of Lot 102996 for a development on Oct 22, 2021.
Nor Hisham reiterated his stand that flood retention ponds should not be touched.
“It (flood retention ponds) is one of our defence strategies to reduce the risk of flooding.
“It is part of the overall flood mitigation plan to stop flooding in Kuala Lumpur.
“At DID, we had made our calculations and estimates on flood retention ponds and due to climate change and global warming, things are going to get worse and our retention ponds are going to need the land surrounding them in the future.
“The land needs to be kept free from development so that we can expand the ponds in the future,’’ he added.
When asked about the mixed development proposal, which will offer affordable housing, Nor Hisham said: “For DID, as engineers, our feedback is technical in nature, not economic or commercial.
“Our only concern is to mitigate future flooding in Kuala Lumpur.
“Public safety will always come first.
“The ponds serve the general good of the population.
“If a decision is made against our technical advice to safeguard the ponds, then we are going to need another solution in the future to solve flooding.”
