SHAH ALAM – After facing the worst case of flooding in almost 30 years, the population in the worst-hit Taman Sri Muda and surrounding areas here have been riddled with the true cause of the disaster that wreaked havoc in the township.
Other than the occasional knee-deep flash floods, there is no denying that the 400mm rainfall that showered the area for several days starting December 18 was an extraordinary occurrence that inundated houses and destroyed vehicles leaving at least several hundreds of millions in damages in its wake.
The disaster that left at least 16 dead and thousands of others temporarily displaced is due to a host of factors, and appears to be decades in the making.
Some quarters, including Sinar Harian managing editor and head of anti-graft non-governmental organisation Rasuah Busters Datuk Hussamuddin Yaacub, recently claimed that Taman Sri Muda – also known as Section 25 – was never meant to be a township, but a water catchment area.
Urging authorities to launch an investigation, Hussamuddin alleges the developer did not comply with directives, including the requirement to build a 2m embankment, when the place was put up for development.
Nevertheless, Taman Sri Muda now stands as one of the most populated areas in Selangor’s Kota Kemuning constituency, with more than 9,000 houses and apartments occupied by mostly those in the M20 and B40 groups.
One of those affected is writer Uthaya Sankar SB, who lost more than 20 years of his life’s work – at least 2,000 books, many of them rare, as his extensive library was destroyed in a matter of hours.
Visited by The Vibes recently, Uthaya – who has published dozens of books, including a Bahasa Malaysia retelling of the famous Sanskrit literary work Bhagavad Gita – said the floodwaters had ruined the entire first floor of his house.
To add to his heartbreaking ordeal, he is expecting an astronomical bill to replace his home appliances as well as house wiring and plumbing repairs.
Both his family’s vehicles, a Perodua Myvi and a six-month-old Honda CRV, were also extensively damaged by floodwaters.
“I cannot move out from the area even if I wanted to, because I might be too old to secure a new housing loan, and all that I have built over the years is based here,” said the 49-year-old.
I only found out that this place had been struck by a flood in 1995 when I moved here in the early 2000s, but I never expected the water level to be so high this time around.”
But for Kota Kemuning assemblyman V. Ganabatirau, the disaster, which struck his constituents a week before Christmas, was also the culmination of overdevelopment, poor town planning, and perhaps even bribery.
Asked about the situation that led to Taman Sri Muda’s devastation, he said it is important to put the matter into the right context.
“The real picture is that you must see how the entire Kota Kemuning area was affected,” he said, adding that the year-end deluge struck no less than 20,000 homes and 100,000 residents in the constituency that stretches along Sg Klang.
Taman Sri Muda’s brief history of ‘chaotic’ growth
Based on the accounts of elders, Ganabatirau said Taman Sri Muda was once known as Merton Estate, an agricultural area with paddy fields and mangrove swamps on 600 acres of land.
Merton Estate, he said, was there prior to independence, but in the early 1980s, the area was earmarked for a mixed development that was to be constructed in phases.
“Whether the developer did any land reclamation for Taman Sri Muda is now being questioned after almost 40 years,” said Ganabatirau, who is a former Taman Sri Muda resident.
“Also, whether MBSA (Shah Alam City Council) was already set up during that time is a question mark, because at the time, the development of areas fell under the purview of the local land office, Irrigation and Drainage Department(DID), and Public Works Department.”
At the time, much of Shah Alam was known as the Sg Renggam estate, and as the decades went by, Taman Sri Muda has grown to 486ha in size.
In the aftermath of the latest floods, former Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib – popularly known as Mat Taib or Mat Tyson, and who was in office between 1986 and 1997 – told The Vibes that the residential project was approved in 1982 while his predecessor, the late Tan Sri Ahmad Razali Mohd Ali, held the post.
Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, who was Selangor MB between 2000 and 2008, had also said he supported the proposal for an investigation, but it is more pressing for the federal and state governments to address issues faced by the area.
“I agree that it is overdeveloped,” he told The Vibes recently.
From my experience, Taman Sri Muda is overdeveloped and does not have proper planning, because it is mixed with an industrial area and shophouses that are not properly situated, as well as having improper monsoon drains.”
Other accounts had indicated that Taman Sri Muda was largely taken over by a company called Syarikat Sri Alam Sdn Bhd, prior to its transfer to an entity named Newacres Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of property developer Metroplex Bhd.
Metroplex is chaired by Lim Siew Kim, the daughter of the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong of the Genting Group.
The Vibes has reached out to Lim for comment, but she has yet to respond at the time of writing. However, it is understood that Newacres is currently undergoing the process of liquidation.
Ganabatirau said the last major development in Taman Sri Muda took place some two decades ago, rendering the area fully developed with a mix of industrial, commercial, and residential lots.
He revealed that the drainage system in Taman Sri Muda, in its first 10 years, was only meant for 243ha of land.
But then the area was hit by the major floods of 1995, which led to the creation of a retention pond around 3ha in size, as well as a pump house that pulls water into Sg Klang.
They saved Taman Sri Muda and were very helpful at the time, and after everything, Taman Sri Muda was fine for a while.”
He said Taman Sri Muda underwent aggressive expansion in the early 2000s, as did an adjoining 800 acres township called Emerald Estate – now known as Taman Kemuning Utama – under the auspices of developer Paramount Property Development, a subsidiary of Paramount Corporation.
Taman Sri Muda is just 5 meter above sea level and right in the path of Sungai Klang river. And then you have Alam Impian project and hill clearance, which started in 2006. Recipe for disaster is always there. pic.twitter.com/C8cKKfclsH
— Saladin (@saladinMY) December 20, 2021
“When this 800-acre land was developed, we realised there was no proper monsoon drain that was built, but after some time a large drain was constructed and water was entirely diverted to Taman Sri Muda. This led to the construction of a tidal gate.”
He said there were other surrounding developments that took place at the turn of the millennium, such as Taman Iswara, Desa Kemuning, Kemuning Utara and Kemuning Baru, all of which had drainage that led to a water canal flowing into Taman Sri Muda.
The matter is compounded by the existence of the Shah Alam Expressway and the Kemuning–Shah Alam Highway, which cuts across these areas.
Consequently, the low-lying Taman Sri Muda became subjected to occasional knee-deep floods when rainfall exceeded 50mm.
“Everybody conveniently says Sri Muda is prone to floods, but my argument from day one is that they failed to plan properly.
“They should stop saying that this disaster is an act of God. If you properly planned and had more outlets to Sg Klang, if you have more pump houses, more ponds, and lakes, maybe floods can be avoided.”
Near and long-term response
Ganabatirau said tackling floods in his constituency has been a priority for him since he was elected to the Kota Kemuning seat in 2018.
Three months prior to the floods in October, he made headlines after a video of him in an angry outburst with DID officials went viral.
He has since apologised to the staff involved, but told The Vibes that the incident occurred as his complaints about the drainage in the area often fell on deaf ears.
However, he said he has also mooted the idea of turning Sg Klang into an even larger water basin through extensive excavation works to deepen the waterway.
In 2019, the state government had also come up with a RM10 million initiative to install high-tech water pumps and another tidal gate in the area, but the works were postponed due to the movement control order in 2020.
The Selangor government had also churned out an additional RM500,000 to clean up existing retention ponds.
Ganabatirau said he has called for the MBSA to convert several public fields into retention ponds, which have been approved.
I’m quite happy with how MBSA is handling the situation, because at least they are responding. The DID is also looking into changing pumps and pump houses, which is something they are going to work on aggressively and complete by this year.
“JKR must also play a role to build drainage along Jalan Bukit Kemuning, and Jalan Batu Bata, while DID must clean the drainage system under its jurisdiction and clear Sg Klang.”
Moreover, Ganabathirau pointed to newer developments planned by current Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari under the newly formed state subsidiary Landasan Lumayan Berjaya Sdn Bhd as among possible solutions to the current drainage woes near Sg Klang.
“I strongly believe development should not only be targeted for economic purposes, but they must also benefit existing residential areas and take into account flood levels,” Ganabathirau said.
“They must make designs that extend beyond 100 years. I think Shah Alam, being the centre of Selangor, should be designed properly, with new development projects benefiting old ones, instead of authorities sweeping matters under the carpet.” – The Vibes, January 9, 2022
