Selangor govt to speed up 17 projects to tackle flash floods
KLANG: The Selangor government has identified 17 urgent projects that need to be implemented in the administrative area of the Royal Klang City Council (MBDK) in an effort to overcome the problem of continuous flooding in the area.
State Infrastructure and Agriculture Exco Datuk Izham Hashim said the projects would be implemented in 13 identified hotspots, including Meru and Pandamaran.
He said the projects to be implemented include drain widening works, installation of culverts for waterways, upgrading bridges involving village areas as well as pocket development.
'Some of these projects will be started as early as this week and are expected to be completed by October with an estimated RM3 million allocated for the implementation of these 17 immediate projects.
'The implementation of these 17 projects will be brought to the Selangor Economic Action Meeting (MTES) within two weeks from now there are several projects involving the implementation of state government policies,' he said.
He said this to reporters after chairing a Meeting to Discuss Infrastructure Progress for MBDK's supervised areas at the MBDK Headquarters here today.
Izham said all the projects would be coordinated by the Selangor Irrigation and Drainage Department (DID) in collaboration with several other agencies including MBDK and the Public Works Department (PWD).
He said all the projects were an effort by the state government to reduce flood incidents, especially flash floods which frequently occur while waiting for the Flood Mitigation Plan (RTB) in the Klang area to be fully completed.
Apart from the immediate measures project, a total of 15 medium-and long-term flood mitigation projects involving the federal government were also implemented with funds of nearly RM45 million, he said.
Meanwhile, Izham said DID also identified more than 300 unmanned catchment ponds and was one of the factors that caused floods to occur due to improper maintenance.
Izham said following this, DID was in the process of taking over the ponds in stages and currently, about 55 ponds have been taken over.
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