This year alone, Kuala Lumpur has been experiencing a few flash floods and every single flood has brought about massive damage to vehicles that are stuck on the road during the incident.
In order to overcome the issue, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is now working with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) to build a high-capacity groundwater storage tunnel in the nation’s capital.
According to Bernama, Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim said this is one of the city hall’s long-term solutions but it will take up to 3 to 5 years to complete.
Meanwhile, he said DBKL will carry out a feasibility study on the location and specification of the groundwater storage tunnel that will be completed within 3 months.
“Its function is to hold flood water before releasing it into the river during low tide. Most major cities worldwide, including in Tokyo and Itabashi in Japan, have built the tunnel under their roads.”
“However, what we have found is that our roads are narrow. So, some have suggested that we build it 120 feet below the river,” he said.
Shahidan added that DBKL would appoint a consultant soon regarding this matter after holding talks with DID.
As for temporary measures, he said DBKL will build flood walls in all areas where rivers are likely to overflow immediately.
Shahidan said the city hall has identified the main cause of the flash floods in the capital and it was due to rivers overflowing, which then resulted in the drainage system being unable to channel the water smoothly into rivers.
Thus, DBKL will carry out works to desilt reservoirs and rivers to maximise their usage capacity.
“For now, we have put sandbags in areas affected by river overflows, besides placing mobile water pumps as a temporary measure to overcome this problem,” he said.
Shahidan also reminded the public to cooperate and not litter in public, especially in the drainage system.
“We also welcome city folk to provide feedback and suggestions to DBKL because our aim is to fully resolve this problem,” he said.
