By Aida Aziz
IPOH: All high-risk trees and complaints involving trees within the jurisdiction of the Ipoh City Council (MBI) must be reviewed and given serious attention.
Simpang Pulai assemblyman Wong Chai Yi said this was crucial to prevent damage to public property due to frequent heavy rain and storm incidents in several parts of Ipoh.
He stressed that he had raised the issue of two recent storms which resulted in dozens of fallen tree cases in the Simpang Pulai area.
“I have raised the issue of two storm incidents that caused trees to fall at dozens of locations in Simpang Pulai, involving five vehicles, including two cars that were crushed in Bandar Cyber.
“Complaints regarding tree pruning also often take too long to be resolved.
“It is time for the MBI Parks and Landscape Department to take a more proactive approach by assessing the condition of all trees and setting better KPIs to prevent damage and risks to the public,” he said when posing a question to the state executive council during the Perak State Legislative Assembly sitting.
Meanwhile, the relevant state executive councillor, Sandrea Ng, in her reply, agreed with the proposal.
“I take note of the increasing frequency of fallen tree incidents. We can see that climate change is becoming the new normal, particularly involving high-risk trees.
“The authorities will take appropriate action based on current needs and complaints received.
“I agree that this issue needs to be reviewed to prevent such incidents, involving continuous maintenance and improvements, with complaints given top priority,” she said.
Previously, Ipoh Echo/Peraktastic reported that heavy rain accompanied by strong winds on Sunday afternoon led to numerous cases of fallen trees across several districts in Perak.
According to a spokesman from the Civil Defence Force (APM) in Perak, a total of 25 cases were reported, with Ipoh and Kampar recording the highest numbers.
