Residents wading through knee-deep floodwaters along an internal road at PPR Kg Muhibbah after heavy rain. — Filepic
Poor infrastructure, maintenance blamed for Kg Muhibbah woes
RECURRING floods at PPR Kampung Muhibbah highlight deeper weaknesses in Kuala Lumpur’s drainage system, particularly upstream.
This is despite having the nearby Kampung Bohol flood retention pond, says former Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director-general Datuk Nor Hisham Mohd Ghazali.
He said flood retention facilities could not be viewed in isolation.
ALSO READ: Flooding blamed on delay in retention pond upgrade
Constricted or poorly maintained drains upstream could cause water to back up within the drainage system and flood residential areas, he said.
“When water cannot flow down, it backs up. That is what we call backflow.
“If you constrict the flow from upstream to downstream, flooding can still occur upstream, even if you have built a pond downstream,” he said.
Nor Hisham: Very important for internal drainage to be upgraded as well when expanding or deepening a flood retention pond.
Nor Hisham said stormwater from the Kampung Muhibbah people’s housing project (PPR) must pass through internal drains, rivers or channels before reaching the Bohol pond.
If those routes could not discharge water quickly enough during heavy rain, he said, water levels would rise upstream and overflow.
“It is very important for internal drainage to be upgraded as well, when expanding or deepening a flood retention pond.”
Nor Hisham was responding to a StarMetro report on the Federal Territories Land and Mines Office (PTGWP) denying that upgrading works at the Bohol pond had caused flash floods at the PPR.
The land office had stated that findings from site engineers showed no technical connection between the pond and inundation occurrences.
In the past two months, flash floods have hit PPR Kampung Muhibbah several times, prompting renewed questions over whether upstream drains have been adequately assessed, whether the Bohol pond’s performance has been independently audited, and whether development approvals were matched with drainage upgrades beyond project boundaries.
Nor Hisham said similar flooding incidents had occurred elsewhere in Kuala Lumpur, including parts of Gombak, often in areas located near rivers where water was unable to drain quickly enough due to inadequate or ageing infrastructure.
One contributing factor, he said, was that some older neighbourhoods and villages were developed decades ago without proper drainage, or with systems designed for rainfall patterns and development densities of another era.
“The current infrastructure cannot cope with excess water,” he said, adding that many drains were designed 25 years ago and had not kept pace with rapid urbanisation.
Nor Hisham also highlighted the cumulative impact of land development, where successive developers raised the level of project sites, increasing pressure on ageing drainage networks and reducing natural water flow paths.
On the Kampung Bohol flood retention pond, he said if the pond had been upgraded based on projected runoff from the development area, it should be able to manage overflows.
“If flooding is still happening during normal rainfall, then we need to ask why,” he said.
