M’ggatal blockage cleared
Published on: Friday, October 23, 2020
By: Sidney Skinner
City Hall workers going all out to clear the blockages at the outlet near the KKIP area.
City Hall has cleared the blockages around the outlet for a Manggatal drain behind Lorong Mempelam C in the hope that this might prevent the structure from overflowing during a downpour.A spokesman for the agency’s Landscaping Department said the weeds which had formed on the drain reserve were also removed.
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“Our workers used ‘cangkuls’ (hoes) to carry out this work at the exit-point for the run off, near the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, two days after the heavy rains at the beginning of October,” he said.
“This should offer rate-payers living near the drain temporary relief from the flash floods which occurred in the neighbourhood,” he said.
He said the drain was cleared annually according to a fixed schedule, with this maintenance most recently conducted in August.
“Due to its sizeable length and depth, the drain can only be maintained on a contract basis.
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“We intend to have the other large drains in the vicinity cleaned and are applying for funds to do so.”
The spokesman was responding to a Manggatal rate-payer’s appeal for help after the drain overflowed in the first week of October, flooding his home in Taman Sepanggar Phase 2.
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The spokesman said City Hall staff inspected the drain and surrounding area shortly after this incident.
“Our personnel noted that the drain does not have the capacity to contain the run-off generated during a non-stop downpour, such as what happened on October 5.
“They also observed the lack of a ‘basin’ for the existing drainage.”
He said the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) had been informed of these findings as the agency was set to assume responsibility for the larger drains in this part of Manggatal.
“City Hall is in the process of handing over the maintenance of these structures to the DID.
“We have also suggested the possibility of creating a basin near the drain at the back of Lorong Mempelam C to improve the flow of the water inside.”
A DID spokeswoman confirmed that the Department was in the midst of taking over responsibility for some of the drains in the area from City Hall.
“We will have to determine if the one behind Lorong Mempelam C is among these structures,” she said.
“If so, we will have to keep the drainage here under observation for a period before strategizing how best to deal with the flood woes here.”
LOI of Manggatal said the water from the drain overflowed into his compound during the heavy rains which the State experienced in early October.
“My house was flooded after less than half an hour of rainfall, with the water level rising almost knee-high,” he said.
“Most of furniture and several electrical appliances were damaged as a result of this.”
He also bemoaned the time and energy spent in cleaning up the mud left behind after the flood had subsided.
Loi said he had repeatedly appealed for City Hall’s help to attend to the drain outside the fence behind his home for years.
“I first contacted the agency all the way back in 2011 and most recently in March this year.
“A week after my report, the drain was cleared. The staff who told me this also assured me that City Hall would periodically keep an eye on the condition of the structure.”
The ratepayer’s house in Taman Sepanggar Phase 2 was flooded when the drain overflowed in early October.
He said an excavator was seen de-sludging and removing the water vegetation from the drain again in July.
“However, this maintenance effort was carried out in a half-hearted manner.
“Piles of the muck, which was dredged up, were left behind on the side of the drain.”
He said the rain water eventually washed back most of this filth into the structure.
“I cannot understand why the sediment was not promptly transported away after the drain was cleaned.
“Action was only taken to do this in September by which time weeds were already beginning to form inside the structure.”
Given the recent flash flood along Lorong Mempelam C, Loi hoped City Hall would step up efforts to clean the drain move regularly.
“The agency should focus on having the outlets and culverts servicing the drain unclogged as well.”
He was under the impression that the structure might have been built to ease the incidence of floods in the area and, if so, was failing to fulfil this purpose.
“I think it might be a flood mitigation drain as it is quite big.”
A spokesman for City Hall’s Engineering Department said the agency would have to determine what had given rise to the drainage woes.
He said City Hall staff would have to verify the resident’s claims, before the Department could decide how best to proceed.
“We are in the midst of identifying areas around Manggatal with drainage problems,” he said.
“Taman Sepanggar Phase 2 will be added to this list where improvement work is needed.”Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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