BUKIT MERTAJAM: New development areas prone to flooding will be identified for mitigation plans to check such woes.
Seberang Prai Municipal Council president Farizan Darus said both the council and the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) would undertake the task to determine the need for retention ponds to address the problem.
He said the ponds were highly effective as they delayed the flow of rainwater into the drainage system, thus reducing flash floods.
“We are now using the guidelines under the Environment Friendly Manual (Masma) to get housing developers in Seberang Prai to build such retention ponds within their projects.
“But, this would be based on the type and size of the development project concerned,” he told reporters after handing over the RM660,000 Parit Lima pump house in Juru to the state DID here yesterday.
Farizan said the use of retention ponds had averted flooding at the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Engineering campus in Transkrian, Nibong Tebal, and the Taman Desa Palma housing scheme here.
He, however, said there was nothing much the council could do at the old housing and commercial schemes that did not have such retention ponds due to space constraints.
“But, if the new schemes around the old ones have such ponds, then the chances of them getting flooded will be very slim,” he said.
He said that in line with the Masma requirement, developers were supposed to contribute RM10,000 per acre of development space towards a special drainage contribution sinking fund.
“The fund will be used to pay for related drainage projects, such as to build pump houses and repair drains,” he said, noting that the Parit Lima pump house was built using the fund.
Bukit Tengah assemblyman Ng Siew Lai said the new pump house would complement the existing ones in Taman Mangga and Taman Sentul Jaya that were built in 2002.
“The new pump house will be able to draw water from Sungai Juru directly into the sea.
“Previously, during downpours and high tide, flashfloods often hit Taman Mangga, Taman Sentul, Taman Sentul Jaya and Taman Pinang mainly because of a backflow of water at the nearby drains and rivers,” she said.
The Star Metro Thursday December 20, 2007
