‘Developer cause of floods in Klang’

Executive councillor Ronnie Liu is not pulling up the errant developer, says a former DAP member.

PETALING JAYA: Former DAP Selangor pubilicty secretary Tan Tuan Tat wants to know why the Selangor councillor in charge of local government is not taking action against a developer which is allegedly responsible for causing floods in Klang.

Tan said Ronnie Liu has not pulled up the developer which has contributed to the floods in Klang.

He cited the Harbour Place Shopping Centre which had its drainage design allegedly deviated from the local council’s city plan, thus causing floods in the area.

He said this was despite assemblyman M Manoharan who had written 20 letters to the state government on the issue.

“As a exco in charged of local government, Liu should take a proactive stance by hauling up the wrongdoers and imposing hefty fine on the developer.

“The developer should bear all construction expenses for flood mitigation around the area,” he said at a press conference here today.

After criticisms earlier on his inconsistent statements on Klang floods, Liu told FMT that it was indeed true to say that irresponsible developers, the terrain and rubbish pollution were the causes of floods in the town.

“Sometimes developers refuse to build retention ponds that cause the floods.

“And the reason why Klang is called Pa Sang [pasang] in Hokkien is because high tides and low tides affect the town,” said the Pandamaran assemblyman.

He said for a thorough solution to Klang’s flood woes, the federal agency, Department of Irrigation and Drainage, has estimated the cost to be RM1.2 billion but had not funnelled the fund to the state.

He urged Tan and other critics to press for federal government’s funding.

‘Not Liu’s fault’

Responding to this today, Tan said the state should brain-storm on ways and means of obtaining allocations rather than passing the buck to the federal government.

He said flood occurrence would had been minimised if state assembly representatives in Klang used their RM1 million annual allocations to tackle the problem.

Tan, the former DAP branch chairman, also claimed that the state government has yet to build an anti-flood retention pound at Jalan Tengku Kelana, despite an allocations of RM3.5 million last year.

When contacted, Liu told FMT that the cause of the floods around Harbour Place Shopping Centre remained unconfirmed.

He also said that Manoharan was the one who accused the developer of having faulty drainage design.

However, Liu refused to comment further on the allegations, saying that Tan was not a DAP member anymore.

“We don’t entertain him anymore, he doesn’t even write a letter to us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Manoharan said it was the Klang Municipal Council and Drainage and Irrigation Department that refused to act against the developer.

“For me it’s not Liu’s fault, he has already directed the local authorities to rectify drainage system in the whole of Klang,” he said.

The Kota Alam Shah assemblyman also said construction of the retention pounds in Jalan Tengku Kelana has already started.