Nine terrace houses and four cars were affected in the landslide that occurred along Jalan Wawasan 3/9 in December last year. — Filepic
EIGHT months after the massive landslide in Taman Wawasan, Puchong, permanent slope stabilisation works have almost been completed.
Subang Jaya City Council (MBSJ) Engineering Department director Dr Mohd Ariffuddin Kamari said the landowner of the affected site, who was also the developer, would next instal the main drain.
“All these fall under phase two of the repair works and are expected to be completed by the end of this year,” he said.
Subang Jaya deputy mayor Mohd Zulkurnain Che Ali said phase one of the repair works cost RM4.7mil.
“The developer has paid back this cost that was initially borne by MBSJ.
“MBSJ, in turn, paid the contractor that undertook the phase one repair works,” he said.
“Affected residents have yet to move back as they can only do so after the drain is installed,” he added.
Zulkurnain said the developer would fully undertake and bear the cost for phase two of repair works, which was previously reported to cost up to RM13mil.
“MBSJ will monitor the repair works from time to time to ensure the affected site is fully stabilised,” he added.
The council officials were speaking at a press conference after MBSJ’s full board meeting, which was chaired by Subang Jaya mayor Datuk Amirul Azizan Abd Rahim.
Last December, nine terrace houses and four cars were affected in the landslide that occurred along Jalan Wawasan 3/9 in Taman Wawasan.
Zulkurnain said MBSJ planned to undertake an underground mapping exercise to map out areas at risk of having sinkholes.
“We will need to coordinate this matter with state agencies such as Selangor Utility Corridor (Kusel), Public Works Department (JKR) and State Economic Planning Unit (Upen),” he said.
“We need to take action soon, following the sinkhole incident in Kuala Lumpur.
“We cannot take things lightly and must take precautionary steps now.
“Sometimes cracks on a building or water leaks into soil could trigger an incident.”
Zulkurnain and Ariffuddin were responding to questions about MBSJ’s plans following the sinkhole incident in Masjid India, Kuala Lumpur, where a female tourist from India fell into an 8m-deep sinkhole after the ground gave way.
Ariffuddin said MBSJ already had a list of high-risk areas prone to floods and landslides, but did not have one for sinkholes.
“The technology needed for underground mapping, such as ground penetrating radar, is costly.
“That is why we need to coordinate with the state agencies, in terms of cost and area of coverage,” he said.
“Since there are areas under MBSJ’s purview that were former mining pools, there is a possibility of a sinkhole, although on a small scale.”
Ariffuddin said areas in Subang Jaya, Puchong and Seri Kembangan were prone to landslides and possibly sinkholes.
