Deepen rivers to prevent recurrence, Negri govt told

SEREMBAN: Residents in several areas here who were affected by flash floods want the state government to widen and deepen several rivers to prevent a recurrence.

A group of residents gathered outside Wisma Negri and demanded the state authorities to announce measures to announce short and long-term measures to prevent more floods from happening.

State MCA chief Siow Koi Voon handed over an eight-point memorandum on behalf of the residents to state urban well-being, housing and local government and new village committee chairman Teo Kok Seong.

Siow said the residents had valid reasons to hold a peaceful gathering as they have been suffering for a long time.

He added the residents decided to come as they had lost confidence in the state government.

“The residents claimed that they didn’t see any work being done to help reduce the floods,” he said.

Siow said residents who live along Sungai Linggi, such as in Kampung Ismail and Block C in Ampangan and Taman Mok Sum, Taman Happy and areas in Mambau for example, have been hit several times by floods this year alone.

“In fact, in the most recent incident in Kampung Singh, a 95-year-old woman had to be rescued by her neighbours after the water rose to five feet,” he said.

Siow said the state government should act quickly as the residents have been suffering in silence for the past two years.

“They are sick and tired of having to buy new furniture and household items only for it to be damaged again in the next round of flooding,” he said.

“The Mentri Besar had last week promised to act quickly. But, until now, the residents have not seen any machinery brought into the affected areas to deepen and widen the river.”

Siow said the residents also want the authorities to rebuild a wall and resolve the erosion problem along Sungai Linggi, construct a retention pond in the affected area and pay a RM5,000 compensation to all affected residents whenever it floods.

When met later, Teo said the state government had already started work to deepen and widen Sungai Linggi in the downstream areas several days ago.

He said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun had also visited the affected areas last week, adding that flood mitigation work will start soon.

“We have already cleared the area to bring in the heavy machinery to deepen the river near Taman Happy.

“Since this project to deepen and widen the river will take two years, we will do it in stages. But, we want to give our assurance to the residents that we are working on the issue,” he added.

Last week, Aminuddin said the state government had implemented several flood mitigation measures along Sungai Paroi and Sungai Batang Penar.

He said other initiatives which include rebuilding and strengthening the riverbank along several stretches of Sungai Linggi and Sungai Temiang will also be carried out.