TAMAN Setia Warisan residents want the elected Kota Damansara assemblyman to check on the flood mitigation project that was supposed to start in June but is nowhere in sight.
Residents brought up the matter with the three Kota Damansara candidates at a dialogue session held at Dataran Taman Setia Warisan in Shah Alam on Saturday (Aug 5) night.
They said that the flooding problem in the area had been plaguing them for years and was still unresolved.
Its resident association (RA) chairman Mat Saad Ahmad asked the three candidates – Muhammad Izuan Ahmad Kasim (Pakatan-PKR), Mohd Radzlan Jalaludin (Perikatan-Bersatu) and Sivarajan Arumugam (PSM) to look into its progress.
"I was in the meeting with government officials and was told that the project was supposed to start in June. However, the project is nowhere in sight.
"About 80 houses get flooded every time it rains heavily," he said.
Mohd Radzlan said there is a need to look into river maintenance.
"Rains bring sediment to the river bed, making it shallower. Scheduled river maintenance must be conducted," he said.
Muhammad Izuan agreed that poor river maintenance could be a contributing factor.
"We have the Shah Alam Sustainable Urban Drainage (Sasud) master plan, which is part of the flood mitigation project.
"I was involved with this portfolio previously when I was a Shah Alam councillor," he said.
Meanwhile, Sivarajan said that the matter should be viewed at core level, including Selangor's environment policies.
"There is a need for a holistic approach to address flooding in suburban areas and to see what causes it.
"It can be due to unchecked development," he said.
Residents also lamented the hefty RM4.60 one-way toll fee to get to Kota Damansara via the Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway.
Both Muhammad Izuan and Mohd Radzlan did not comment as the matter is a federal matter but Sivarajan said it was the government's responsibility to negotiate the toll fee before the expressway was built.
Mat Saad said they used to invite candidates separately but the RA decided to ask all three to come simultaneously, a first for residents here.
"This will allow residents to make an informed choice on Aug 12," he said.
Muhammad Izuan, Mohd Radzlan and Sivarajan are in a three-cornered fight for the Kota Damansara state seat.
