To prevent the potential floods that could occur in the latter months of the year, a number of solutions have been proposed. One of the most prevalent is to deepen the rivers to allow more water in.
Recently, the Selangor state government announced that they will be deepening parts of the Klang River by 2 to 3 metres starting from November 1 to lower the risk of flooding & for the water to flow faster.
According to Utusan, this was announced by Chairman of the Infrastructure and Public Facilities Committee, Ir. Izham Hashim who said, “When the river deepening works are completed in about a year’s time, the river will have the capacity to hold 40% more water.”
He also said that a cross-river section technical study showed that the shallower parts near Puchong, Seri Muda and Sungai Kandis must be deepened soon to prevent stagnation and for water to flow smoothly.
“Work will start in Kota Kemuning and Seri Muda, which are sensitive areas,” Izham said.
The river banks will also be strengthened from the river’s boundary in Kuala Lumpur to Klang.
Isn’t it too late?
However, the announcement did not fare well with Malaysians who criticised the state government for taking far too long to do it considering that many parts of the nation have already faced floods.
“Monsoon reach only start to dig? They need to spend a year (just) to study and analyse?”
Another commented, “One year to decide, one year to implement.”
Meanwhile, other users pointed out that there are other problems and solutions that are needed to also prevent flooding from happening.
“Maybe clean the river of rubbish and improve the drainage system?”
One user said that emphasis should be put on teaching the public the importance of throwing away trash properly and how to reinforce better recycling habits.
Do you think that this will prove to be the solution to lessen the effects of the floods?
Also read: WATCH: Devastating Floods in Langkawi Causes Malaysians Across The Country to Panic