Wait and see, KL

A REPORT on the flash floods that occurred in the city last Tuesday is being compiled by the Drainage and Irrigation Department’s Hydrology Division.

The report, which is expected to be out “soon”, will cover the intensi ty of the rainfall , the areas affected and the depth of the flooding. “It will give a detailed look into what happened that day and hopefully stop people from speculating or laying blame on others,” said a DID spokesman yesterday.

He said that one of the contributing factors that caused the massive floods that brought the city to its knees was the delay in the completion of the Kuala Lumpur Flood Mitigation project.

The project comes in two main par t s : The Smart Tunnel or Package A, which was completed two years ago; and Package B, which consists of the Batu and the Jinjang ponds.

The primary function of these ponds is to store excess water and release them gradually into the Gombak and Keroh rivers to prevent flooding. The other smaller elements that make up the entire system have either
been completed or are in various stages of construction.

The Batu pond was completed in the middle of last year, and is bigger than the Jinjang pond. The Jinjang pond, which should have been constructed together with the Batu pond, is now 95 per cent completed.
However, the spokesman could not say for certain floods would be a thing of the past once the ponds are fully operational.

“While we can’t guarantee that, we are confident that it should not happen.” The spokesman added that the
company tasked with the job had been given four extensions since last year. “We are not giving the company any more extensions. Work should have been completed last December,” he said.