KUALA LUMPUR — Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has expressed strong disagreement with the government’s decision to continue alienating urban land around flood retention ponds for development purposes.
Kok took issue with answers given by Federal Territories (FT) Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, where the latter said the government had no plans to stop acquisition of land near retention ponds by developers.
“I must say I strongly disagree with the stand taken by the government to continue to give away land surrounding flood retention ponds to developers to build high density housing projects.
“Are the minister of FT and PMX truly concerned about flash flood in KL?,” Kok said in one Facebook post where she shared an article on Zaliha’s reply.
Her reference to the Prime Minister is because Zaliha’s ministry is under the Prime MInister’s Department.
In another Facebook post, the DAP lawmaker shared a news article in Bahasa Malaysia on the same subject and said: “I strongly disagree with this government’s policies” and added an angry face emoji.
In Parliament yesterday, Kok asked why authorities continued to allow development projects near flood retention ponds, noting the increasing frequency of flash floods in the Klang Valley.
“It is so bad until MPs were also delayed by floods coming to Parliament,” Kok said yesterday in reference to Oct 15 when the Dewan Rakyat Speaker ordered house proceedings to begin later as lawmakers were stranded in flood.
Zaliha in reply said the government had no plans to stop the de-gazetting of such land to private developers because records showed that flash flood hot spots in the city were not close to such projects since 2018.
Zaliha cited development in Kampung Periuk and Kampung Baru claiming that the frequency of flash floods here in the last two years had reduced.
She also named eight development projects approved at flood retention pond areas which include projects in Taman Wahyu, Kepong Metropolitan and Damai Lake Fields.
The minister said Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is now tasked to conduct a study on whether there is a correlation between approved projects and flash floods in the city centre.
Kok has been among those opposing development around the Kg Bohol flood retention pond which will reduce the size of the reservoir for private property projects. – November 22, 2024