Sungai Buloh overflows when there is heavy rainfall in Kuala Selangor. — Filepic
Selangor needs RM456mil to resolve flood issues in the Petaling and Kuala Selangor districts.
However, only RM50mil was approved by the Federal Government under the 11th Malaysia Plan for the Sungai Buloh flood mitigation plan in 2017.
Selangor infrastructure development and modernisation of agriculture and farming committee chairman Izham Hashim said the funds were used to improve water flow and reduce flooding in Kuala Selangor areas such as Pekan Ijok, Kampung Ijok, Kampung Harmoni, Kampung Parit Mahang, Kampung Bukit Hijau, Kampung Bukit Cerakah and Kampung Bukit Kuching.
In addition, he said the Federal and state governments respectively allocated RM23,221,405 and RM34,572,575 to Selangor Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) to address the flood problem.
He said that among the steps taken were maintenance works at the Mesra Alam U5 Subang Bestari water catchment area and upgrading works at Sungai Kedondong and Sungai Subang.
He was replying to Dr Halim Tamuri (PN-Paya Jaras) who asked about flood mitigation programme at Paya Jaras, Kubu Gajah and Merbau Sempak.
“The Sungai Buloh water basin is located in Gombak, Petaling and Kuala Selangor districts. Sungai Buloh is 40km long and flows into the the Straits of Malacca,” said Izham.
“The water basin cannot support the high volume of rainwater and also rampant development in parts of Gombak and Petaling districts. This results in flooding in some areas.”
He said floods in Petaling and Kuala Selangor districts occured because Sungai Buloh overflowed during heavy rain in Kampung Paya Jaras Hilir, Kampung Paya Jaras Dalam, Kampung Merbau Sempak and Kampung Kubu Gajah.
Floods also took a long time to subside in Kuala Selangor while the Petaling district was affected mostly by flash floods, he added.
It is estimated that about 14,000 people would benefit from the flood mitigation project.
As of Oct 16, the project was 62% completed and was ahead of schedule.
Selangor DID will monitor the project to ensure it can be completed by April 4, 2024.
Izham said the project could not be hurried as it involved technical matters and careful attention was needed, otherwise shoddy work would take place and it would be a waste of funds.
DID, he said, had asked for Federal Government funds of RM760mil for the Sungai Buloh Flood Mitigation Plan Phase II and was awaiting approval.
On an unrelated matter, during the debate session, Preakas Sampunathan (PH-Kota Kemuning) said Selangor should consider adopting the sponge city concept to tackle flood issues.
Sponge cities, he said, were developed to absorb rainwater.
“The roads are built using water absorbent materials to enable rainwater to be absorbed into the soil.
“This concept is implemented in China, New Zealand and Canada.
“If the cities in Selangor can be turned into sponge cities, we may be able to reduce the burden on water pumps and reduce flood risks,” he said.
Preakas also suggested that the state provide water catchment ponds at rain hotspots such as areas in the Kota Kemuning constituency.
