The Ipoh City Council (MBI) has implemented several steps to reduce the risk of flash floods and increase the comfort of road users in the city.
The Engineering Department via the Drainage Division and Road Division of MBI had resurfaced the roads around the administration areas of MBI in 2021.
Mayor, Dato’ Rumaizi Baharin said the implementation of the works involved a cost of RM14.7 million received from various sources.
For instance, MBI spent a total of RM5.1 million, Amanah Saliran of Department of Irrigation and Drainage spent RM3.1 million, the Malaysian Road Records Information System (MARRIS) RM5 million, and the Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT) spent RM1.5 million.
According to the Mayor, for this year and the upcoming years, MBI will continue to use allocation of a similar total to implement various projects.
“For example, MBI will carry out flood mitigation to reduce the risk of flash floods and main road resurfacing programmes to increase the comfort of road users.
“The flood mitigation projects involve works such as drain repair, clean-up of drains and retention ponds.
“Other actions include the installation of flap gates, construction of new drains, realignment of drains and the installation/repair of flood pumps,” he said in his speech during the MBI Full Board Meeting for January at the MBI Meeting Hall.
According to him, the main focus is on areas severely impacted by the flash flood on January 19 which were Desa Impian, Bercham and Taman Cempaka (Sari 5, Sari 7, Sari 9, Sari 11, Sari 13).
These areas were among the severely impacted after heavy rain of an average reading of 77-100mm for two hours.
He added that MBI will continue to monitor the drains affected by the issues of flash flood.
“For the record, the total asset for monsoon drains around the administration area of MBI is 265,000 metres (265km).
“There are 111 retention ponds and 22 dry ponds where the total will increase yearly with the establishment of new neighbourhoods and residential areas,” he explained.
Rosli Mansor
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