BY WONG PEK MEI

KUALA Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) proposed plan to overcome recurring floods in the capital city will focus on two areas following last week’s disastrous flash flood, said mayor Datuk Seri Mohd Amin Nordin Abd Aziz.

The areas are Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim (formerly known as Jalan Duta) and the Bangsar entrance to Universiti Malaya (UM), he added.

The proposal, he said, would be on the short-term and long-term solutions to resolve the major flood issues in the city, adding that an underground waterway would not be part of it.

When asked on what sort of works would be done, he said he could not reveal the details yet as the proposal would be sent to Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to raise it with the Cabinet.

“In general, the works will include drainage, retention pond and changing the underground culvert,” he said.

He added that at UM, the main problem was the backflow at Sungai Pantai during heavy rain that ran through the university.

Regarding last Thursday’s flash flood in Kuala Lumpur that brought traffic to a standstill and submerging more than 115 vehicles, Amin Nordin said upgrading of drains was not a long-term solution.

“Although upgrading of the drainage at the highway was 40% complete, the drains would still not be able to cope with the volume.

“In the proposal (to Tengku Adnan), we will present both short and long-term measures,” he said, adding that underground waterways was not under the purview of DBKL.

“We handle only the smaller drains,” he said.

The two-hour downpour last Thursday started at about 6pm, causing bad flash floods especially on Jalan Pantai Baru, Jalan Bangsar, Jalan Lingkungan Budi in Universiti Malaya, Jalan Semantan and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim.

Expressing his apology to the rakyat, Tengku Adnan had reportedly said that copious amount of rain that reached a high of 122.8mm per hour was the main cause of the floods.