FOR 30 years, residents and businesses along Jalan Kepayang and Jalan Selingsing 7 in Taman City, Segambut in Kuala Lumpur, have suffered the impacts of floods whenever it rained heavily.
They can now find relief thanks to a series of mitigation works carried out by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in the area.
Works began in August last year and was completed in March.
Segambut Residents Representative Council (MPP) chairman Wong Zhong Yi said DBKL widened a 290m-long monsoon drain along Jalan Kepayang to improve its capacity.
“A new drain was also built along the same road to improve the overall water flow in the area,” he said yesterday during a visit to inspect the widened monsoon drain in Jalan Kepayang.
Lauding the construction of the other drain, Taman City Timur Rukun Tetangga (RT) chairman Vincent Yap Chee Seng said it could stop rainwater from flowing into the shops and the houses.
He added that the 160 houses and shoplots in Jalan Kepayang and Jalan Selingsing 7 were often the worst hit during floods due to backflow of water from the monsoon drain.
Chee Seng said this tend to happen due to insufficient drain capacity.
“Before the upgrades, the shop operators had to put up their own barriers to stop the water from flowing into their premises.
“However, they still suffered from huge losses when floods happened,” he added.
Chee Seng thanked DBKL and Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh’s office for their efforts in resolving the problem.
“When there is heavy rain, I receive many calls from residents and shop operators complaining about floods.
“After the upgrades, there have been no complaints.
“There was heavy rain here yesterday and the upgraded drainage system prevented floods from happening,” he said.
Chee Seng urged residents and business operators in the area to refrain from throwing rubbish into the drains.
“All the effort and money spent on the upgrades will be wasted if the drains are clogged by rubbish,” he said.
Also present during the site visit were Yeoh’s political secretary Yap Yee Vonne and Segambut Sub-Zone 6 Residents Representative Council (MPP) chairman Jeyakumar Manokaran.
Yee Vonne said besides upgrading the drains, DBKL also resurfaced several roads in the area.
“Efforts by DBKL to minimise floods and repair the roads have made the lives of the people here safer and more comfortable.”
