Shahidan invites Lip Eng, critics to see flood solutions already in place

Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim has assured that the government's efforts to tackle flash flooding in Kuala Lumpur are not just empty promises but consist of plans for the short, medium, and long term.

For the near term, he said, the government will be pumping water, monitoring affected areas, and building sandbag barriers at places where rivers overflow.

These efforts, he said, are already in place, adding that critics such as Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng are welcome to see it for themselves.

"I invite Lim to visit all the places where we have erected sandbag (barriers), then he can speak (critically)," Shahidan told Malaysiakini.

He added that he would invite other MPs who also doubt Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Federal Territories Ministry's efforts to address flash floods.

Kuala Lumpur has been facing flash floods more regularly since last December.

Lim had criticised Shahidan and the government, saying promised solutions to flash flooding had a tendency of not being implemented as they were perpetually under study.

This was in response to Shahidan saying on Thursday that DBKL will carry out a feasibility study on the location and specifications for a high-capacity groundwater storage tunnel, which will be completed in three months.

"I did not say it was being studied. He has to read my statement, maybe he did not read it but was eager to comment," Shahidan said.

The tunnel itself is expected to take three to five years to build and is one of the long-term solutions being planned, according to the minister.

Besides the groundwater storage tunnel, Shahidan said that for the medium term the government would be building retention ponds.

He also hit back, saying that flash flooding in Kuala Lumpur occurred during Pakatan Harapan's time in power as well, but the current plans to solve the problem were introduced under his watch and that he kept an eye on progress regularly. - Mkini