Nothing to do with construction project near sluice gate, exco says on Sri Muda floods

The Selangor government has denied allegations that the construction project near the sluice gate in Taman Sri Muda in Section 25 in Shah Alam was the cause of the severe floods in the area.

“It has nothing to do with it. The planning permission was obtained in 2015 and the building plan was approved in 2017, which means that everything that was requested had complied with the conditions set, including in terms of the buffer area and underground detention pond,” state infrastructure and agriculture exco Izham Hashim told reporters in Taman Sri Muda.

He was commenting on a viral video of a woman alleging that the construction project was the cause of the floods in the area.

Izham said the floods were due to an unusual amount of rainfall and the high tide phenomenon.

“Taman Sri Muda is located in a low-lying area and when the high tide phenomenon occurs and there is backflow, we need to close the gate, otherwise the water from Sungai Rasau and Sungai Klang will flow into this area.

“When we close the gate, we use the pumps but during the recent floods, all the power substations were submerged in floodwater and the electricity supply was cut off. The two locations to pump water out were also affected and we had to do it manually,” he said.

Izham said the state government had taken immediate measures to build another sluice gate in Taman Sri Muda with a pumping capacity of 5,100 litres per second which is expected to be completed within a year.

The state government will also identify areas to build more reservoirs and increase pump capacity to address flood problems in Selangor, he said.