The country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, has met with several flash floods since the beginning of this year. While many factors led to this disaster, the authorities had their fair share of the responsibility.
According to The Star, the Auditor-General’s Report 2021 Series 1 reveals that Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) flood mitigation measures (2018-2022) under its master plan have yet to achieve their objectives.
The report noted that 3 projects amounting to RM27.68mil did not comply with procurement principles.
It was also reported that DBKL has not fully implemented the proposed short-term flood mitigation measures, with only 11.1% of 18 projects completed, leaving the problem of flash floods in the city unresolved.
“Flash floods keep recurring even after the implementation of flood mitigation projects,” the report reads.
The report also noted that flood management by DBKL involved flood mitigation projects and maintenance works, where the implementation of the projects was based on the Kuala Lumpur City Rainwater Management Drainage System Master Plan (Master Plan) and flash flood hotspots.
The audit covered 2 main areas, which is the programme performance and programme management, for the period from 2016 to March 2022.
Apart from that, the audit also found another weakness in programme management that needed attention. This involved variation orders amounting to RM192,553.90 being approved after the contracts had expired.
It was also found that time extensions were approved after the expiry of contracts while records of assets or infrastructure of rivers and flood reservoirs were incomplete and not up to date.
The report also states that there is no evidence of the maintenance work was monitored.
With this, the Auditor-General suggested that DBKL conduct an outcome evaluation of the mitigation programme based on its standard operating procedure (SOP) in dealing with floods.
In response, DBKL said 10 new projects had been proposed this year.
“DBKL has completed two out of 18 projects and while five more will be completed this year pending the approval of additional budget,” it said.
 flood mitigation measures (2018-2022) under its master plan have yet to achieve their objectives.){kind=link}