Taman Sri Rampai residents plagued by mud floods

PKR claims mud floods occurred after Ekovest Bhd began work on the DUKE 3 highway.

VIDEO INSIDE

KUALA LUMPUR: PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil blames construction work on the DUKE 3 highway for the mud floods that have been plaguing residents of Taman Sri Rampai here.

He said the erosion of soil and the clearing of foliage on a hill top where construction work was underway was the main reason residents were now facing these issues.

“The soil and foliage had previously acted like a natural sponge whenever it rained.

“As you can see, the houses are located at the bottom of the hill, creating a natural crater for water to gather,” he told reporters at the site here today.

Present were Maneh Sharif and her husband, Md Radzi Saedin, who have been living in the area for 30 years now.

“We only started facing this problem a year ago after they started working on that highway,” said Maneh.

According to Maneh, they experienced the first floods in November last year and then again in March, June and just yesterday.

“The worst case was last June after which DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) had a meeting with the YB (Setiawangsa MP Ahmad Fauzi) and the residents’ committee.

“They gave the residents here a letter saying the issue would be taken care of and that we’d receive compensation.

“But we’re still facing mud floods and we haven’t received any compensation.”

In June, 100 houses were reportedly affected.

“It hurts when they give us false hope like that,” said Maneh.

Fahmi said the developer, Ekovest Bhd, had come up with half-hearted solutions to the floods thus far.

“From an engineering point of view, I don’t know if this is the best solution. Half-hearted solutions like this may cause bigger issues in the future,” he said.

PKR will soon embark on a signature campaign from among the residents in hopes the Kuala Lumpur mayor and Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor will take the matter more seriously.

“This is KL! We’re 15 minutes away from the Petronas twin towers. Why is this happening?” asked Fahmi.- FMT