DID, City Hall to step up efforts on monsoon drain
Published on: Thursday, September 12, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
An excavator was used to remove the rubbish and piles of dried branches from inside the drain along Jalan Kolombong.
THE Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) will step up efforts to check on the monsoon drain along Jalan Kolombong, while City Hall has called on the government concessionaire to do the same for the housing drains in Lorong Bernam in Luyang.
This action was prompted by feedback that both structures had not been cleaned in some time.
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An employee at an office at the BDC-Sedco Industrial Commercial Centre in Kolombong said the monsoon drain was clogged with rubbish, including piles the fallen branches.
A Taman Soon Kiong rate-payer, on the other hand, was taken aback by the high level of the water inside a housing drain in the neighbourhood. He found this puzzling since the water had all but dried up in the other drains in the area.
These individuals provided Hotline with the location of the affected drains in question. This information was forwarded to the respective agencies.
A DID spokeswoman said a check was made of its monsoon drain on Jalan Kolombong, shortly after being contacted by the media.
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“They noted that the section in front of the Commercial Centre was filled with bits of garbage,” she said.
Despite having reduced the capacity of the drain, she said, the foreign objects had not impeded the flow of the water completely.
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“The water in the drain may not have been moving quickly but it is still being channelled away.
“No green scum was observed on the surface to indicate that the water had become stagnant.”
City Hall staff in the midst of clearing the overgrown greenery from the verge.
The spokeswoman said an excavator was deployed to Jalan Kolombong a few days later to remove the silt and garbage from inside the drain.
“Flood mitigation drains around the State Capital are generally cleared on a quarterly basis.”
She said exceptions were occasionally made when it came to such maintenance.
“If need be, the drains will be desludged even outside this schedule,” he said.
“This is done on a case by case basis, depending on the severity of the drainage woes which are being addressed.”
The spokeswoman said the Department’s personnel had been asked to keep tabs on the condition of the monsoon drain along Jalan Kolombong regularly to ensure that any irregularities were promptly dealt with.
City Hall has urged the government concessionaire to be equally diligent when it comes to the roadside drains around Taman Soon Kiong.
A spokeswoman for the agency’s Landscaping Department explained that the firm was responsible for maintaining the front-yard drains, while the agency tended to those behind residences under its jurisdiction.
She said the former amenities were cleaned according to a fixed schedule, with the same being done to the latter once every six-months.
“Landscaping staff went to Taman Soon Kiong to try and verify the rate-payer’s concerns,” she said.
“They did not find anything amiss with the drains behind homes here.
“Nevertheless, our personnel have been asked not become lax when it comes to checking on the condition of backyard drains in the neighbourhood. They were reminded to deal with any blockages accordingly.”
A spokesman for its Engineering Department said four of its staff found the water in a section of the drain along Lorong Bernam 1 to be “on the high-side”.
Engineering personnel put their back into removing the foreign objects from inside the drain along Lorong Bernam 1.
“They cleared the overgrown greenery from the shoulder of the drain and, later dug out the blockages from inside, before noticing that the water began to move,” he said.
“They did not find any structural defects with the drain. The outlet and gradient were found to be in good order.”
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