DID to check condition of Manggatal drain
Published on: Wednesday, November 11, 2020
By: Sidney Skinner
The main road in Tebobon was flooded during heavy rain, recently.
The Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) will check on condition of a drain along Jalan Tuaran, near a Petronas station in the Tebobon area of Manggatal.A DID spokeswoman said the agency would have to determine whether the structure was used for flood mitigation purposes.ADVERTISEMENT
“If this is the case, and should the drain be clogged, then we will arrange to have the structure de-silted and any blockages removed,” she said.
“Our monsoon drains are cleaned as and when it becomes necessary to do so.”
When asked if lack of maintenance on a monsoon drain might have contributed to the flood woes at the section of the main road, in the vicinity of the fuel kiosk, she said the Department’s staff would have to establish why the run-off was pooling on the stretch.
“There is a lot of road-work taking place in this part of Manggatal, some of which involves reserve-land belonging to the DID.ADVERTISEMENT
“Should any flood drain, near the Petronas station, have been inadvertently blocked because of the road construction, then we will liaise with the relevant agency about unclogging this structure,” she said.
The spokeswoman was responding to the appeal from a Manggatal motorist for the local authorities to step up efforts to clear the drains on either side of Jalan Tuaran.
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She noticed that one of the two lanes on the stretch was covered in water from the drains after less than half an hour of heavy rain, recently. The individual was on her way to Kota Kinabalu at the time.
DID may be taking over the responsibility of maintaining this drain in Sepanggar area from the City Hall.
Her observations were initially forwarded to the Public Works Department (PWD).
A PWD spokesman said an inspection of the roadside drains was made shortly after the agency became aware of this problem.
“The on-going effort to build the Pan Borneo highway has not impacted the flow of water inside these structures,” he said.
“We noted that the rain-fall was particularly intense, at the time the stretch flooded. The tide was also high around this time.”
PETRONELLA of Manggatal said sections of Jalan Tuaran, near the fuel station, were prone to flooding during a downpour.
She said this was especially inconvenient for motorists as it often took several hours for the flood waters to recede.
After heavy rains recently, she said the traffic was banked up from Bandar Sierra all the way to the Taman Fulliwa junction because the water from the drains had overflowed onto the main road.
“I suspect that this may be happening because the drains might be clogged,” she said.
“There are a lot of new buildings coming up off this part of the stretch. I wonder if any of this development may have had an impact on the drainage.”
Petronella could not understand why the relevant authority had turned a blind eye to this problem.
“The water pooling on the road has already cause potholes to form in parts of Jalan Tuaran.”
Meanwhile, the DID has admitted that it would be some time before the Department assumed responsibility of several drains from City Hall, including some in the Manggatal area.
The spokeswoman said the latter was still liable for maintaining these structures until the hand-over had been finalised.
“We are only in the early stages of the transfer and the DID can only begin maintaining the drains once this is official.”
Even then, she said, action to clean these structures would depend on the Department getting the necessary funding to carry out this work.
MIN of Manggatal said water from the drain behind his home in Taman Sepanggar Phase 2 overflowed during heavy rains 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 my furniture and several electrical appliances were damaged as a result of this.”
He bemoaned the time and energy spent in cleaning up the mud left behind after the flood had subsided.
Min 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.”
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, Min 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.”
Last month, Min was told that City Hall was in the process of handing over maintenance of the drain to the DID.
“I was made to understand that the Department was asked to consider the possibility of creating a basin near the structure to improve the flow of the water inside.”
The spokeswoman said the DID would have to determine if the drain behind Lorong Mempelam C was among those being handed over to the Department.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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“If so, once the transfer is official, we will have to keep the drainage here under observation for a period,” she said
“This will allow us to strategise how best to deal with the flood woes here.”