The Bohol flood retention pond in Seputeh is located close to Kesas and several populated areas.
THE management of Shah Alam Expressway (Kesas) raised its concerns to the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) last year after learning about a proposal to alienate land near the Bohol flood retention pond in Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur.
The retention pond is located along Kesas and close to several populated areas, including Kampung Muhibbah in Kuala Lumpur and Taman Kinrara in Selangor, as well as a number of high-rises.
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In a statement to StarMetro, Kesas Sdn Bhd said it was deeply concerned about the proposed development of land surrounding the Bohol pond as it had proven to be critical in mitigating flash floods in surrounding areas.
“Any development within the vicinity of Bohol pond may have grievous detrimental effect to surrounding areas, especially to Kesas.
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“Kesas management found out about the proposed project in mid-2022 and immediately highlighted to Kuala Lumpur DID our concerns, especially on Bohol pond’s capacity.
“We wrote to the department on many occasions and the last update received from them was in January 2023, where we were informed that the upgrading of Bohol pond will be implemented sometime in 2023 or 2024, in tandem with the Sungai Kuyoh upgrading project, which we were told will take a few years to complete.
Heavy rain caused water to overflow from Sungai Kuyoh at the Bohol flood retention pond, flooding parts of Kesas in December 2021. — Filepic
“Additionally, based on a meeting in October last year, we were told that the land alienation application was approved in April 2022,” it said.
Kesas management also stated that the proposed development would significantly decrease the pond’s water retention capacity.
“During a downpour, Sungai Kuyoh’s banks will overflow and flood surrounding areas.
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“Kesas highway is exposed to great risk like what happened in the major flash floods on March 7 and June 18 last year.
“Based on Google Earth images on the Bohol pond taken in 2001, it was much bigger and served its purpose as a water retention pond.
“Now, Bohol pond has been significantly reduced because of heavy siltation.
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“With the lack of desilting and maintenance, more flash flood cases in the surrounding areas have been observed and reported,” the statement read.
The company said tens of thousands of ringgit worth of toll equipment were damaged during the floods of March 7 and June 18, when some portions of the highway were inundated with floodwaters.
“Although the cost was not significant, the impact on traffic congestion was immense,” it said.
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Kesas management was responding to StarMetro’s report on May 8 titled “Gripped by flood fears” about the proposed alienation of Bohol pond for a housing development project.
The land near Bohol pond had 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 which had said that alienating land surrounding flood retention ponds for development was a recipe for disaster.
Based on documents sighted by StarMetro, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur Land and Mines Office gave conditional approval on Oct 22, 2021, to a company to alienate part of Lot 102996 for development.
