I worked in the Drainage and Irrigation Department in the early 80s. At that time, a 20-year KL Flood Mitigation Plan (KLFMP) was in already in place and was being implemented. There was much hype and publicity in the media then, trumpeting that when the plan was fully implemented by the year 2000, KL will be free of major flash floods.

After more than 20 years and billions of ringgit spent building dams, retention ponds, a Smart tunnel, widening and deepening rivers, the flood problem still persists. The Smart tunnel did not feature in the original KL Flood Mitigation Plan and yet the top brass then were very confident that the flood problem will be solved when the KLFMP is fully implemented.

Year 2000 has come and gone and instead of a reduced intensity and frequency of floods, the severity of flash floods has increased in recent years, which means the billions spent on KLFMP has gone down the drain.

Why did the KLFMP fail? Many flood-related seminars have been organised to discuss the flood problem and identify solutions to the problems. Any hydrologist/engineer worth his salt will tell you that the solution to the problem is to tackle the problem at its source.

In this respect, DID has correctly identified the problem of increased flood waters discharge caused by development and has come out with a Drainage Manual requiring all land development to incorporate measures to ensure zero increase in flood discharge. That is, every development project or change in land use must incorporate flood retention ponds so that the flood waters and silt discharges are not increased during or after the development of the land. However, there is no political will to implement this minimum policy.

I am a Hasher and often our run sites are in the upper catchments of rivers that flow into the Klang Valley. We can observe at first hand the wanton destruction of the forests and the hills surrounding the Klang Valley. When it rains, the bare hills literally bleed with torrents of sediment-laden muddy water discharging directly into the nearest stream.

It's a double whammy when vegetation cover on hills are stripped as first the peak flow (ie, flood discharge) increases nine-fold, and second, the eroded soil washed down from the bare hills clog up the drainage system downstream thus reducing the discharge capacity of the drainage system.

I don't know how these development projects on steep hills got approved in the first place. How can these developers get away with stripping and cutting up the hills in such haphazard manner without regard to the environment, erosion and flood? Where are the retention ponds? Why no enforcement of the policy by the authorities?

I suggest that the cabinet get out and drive to the foot hills around the Klang Valley in a heavy downpour and witness for themselves the earth crying. It not difficult, as it rains almost every evening. They don't have to go far to see the damages that are going on and the source of the leaks.

I suggest the cabinet and local authorities take a look at the following 'Dirty Dozen' sources of 'leaks':

  • Along the Federal Route 1 on the way to Templer Park, wanton hill cutting on the left and right sides of the road, right in front of the Selayang district council building.

  • Logging and hill cutting at Bukit Lagong. A beautiful picnic area and Orang Asli kampong is being destroyed by logging activities. Adjacent to the Selayang police station.

  • Hill cutting and quarry activities on the hill side near Kg Aman, Sg Buloh. Can be seen from the North-South highway.

  • Massive housing development (Desa Gemilang) with uncontrolled hill leveling activities in the Sg Pusu area (behind IIUM) - Sg Gombak catchment area.

  • Logging activities on the hills of Sg Pusu Malay/Orang Asli kampung.

  • Hill-cutting and housing development along the old Jalan Gombak Sg Gombak catchment area.

  • Logging, hill-cutting and housing development at Sg Tua in front of the Batu Dam Sg Tua catchment area.

  • Damansara Permai/Damai township used to be a beautiful hill covered with pine forests belonging to the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (Frim). It is now a bare hill with little boxes on the hill side. Where are the retention ponds?

  • Ulu Klang hill-cutting at the foot hill below the Klang Gates.

  • Damansara Country Heights cutting of steep slopes, can be seen from the NKVE.

  • Bukit Kiara/Hartamas massive forest clearing and hill-cutting just before the Penchala toll plaza.

  • Ampang development works beside Bukit Antarabangsa.

The above 'dirty dozen' is just for areas upstream of KL city center. The same wanton forest clearing and hill-cutting is happening throughout the whole country. The leaks at the upper catchment areas are akin to leaks on the roof of a building. Action must be taken to repair the roof, that is stop the leaks at the source instead of spending billions to channel the leaked water.

The ball is in the government's court. Put a stop to all the illegal hill clearing, logging and development on hillsides and use the newly allocated RM100 million to turf the bare hills, plant trees and restore the forest and the hills.

That is the Smart way to go!