Danger spots in Bukit Antarabangsa

" ARchiteCTURE for LIFE "

Thursday November 19, 2009 (StarMetro)

By CHOONG MEK ZHIN

A FEW areas in Bukit Antarabangsa, where a landslide claimed several lives in December last year, has been identified by the local residents associations as hotspots for disaster.

Ampang MP Dr Zuraida Kamaruddin along with members of the residents’ association, Coalition of Bukit Antarabangsa Residents Association (CoBARA) and members of its Community SlopeWatch programme as well as Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) councillor Izzudin Che Din visited the areas yesterday.

Residents are worried over the lack of proper drainage along the road outside Kyoto Garden Condomium.

In need of repairs: Part of the wall surrounding a private property that has collapsed.

“When it rains, the water flows down the road and straight into the condominium compound. This is undue stress on the slope on the other side of the condominium,” SlopeWatch president Abdul Razak Bahrom said.

He said there was no drainage hole or pipe along the road shoulder that enables the water to flow into the drain.

The residents association (RA) of the area had written a complaint letter regarding the matter to both the MPAJ and the Public Works Department (JKR) last year but there has been no response so far.

Zuraida said she had even seen the basement of the condominium flooded due to the rainwater that flows in from the road.

Another area of concern is between the Oakleaf Park Condominium and a private property on which a bungalow stands and where part of the wall has collapsed into the drain along with a section of the bungalow’s wall.

The wall was built by the MPAJ and is believed to have been reinforced by the bungalow owner before the concrete wall surrounding the property was built, said Abdul Razak.

Of no help: The two drains built along the slope.

Another wall built by the MPAJ and which is part of the drain opposite Taman Bukit Utama and at the foothill where Puncak Bukit Utama is located is also on the verge of collapse.

“Residents of Taman Bukit Utama, who usually use the road next to the drain, noticed the condition about a year ago. We don’t really know if it was that way before the landslide last year because we don’t usually use the road,” Puncak Bukit Utama resident YT Chan said.

Chan added that the residents had contacted the developer IRDK Developments (M) Sdn Bhd but were told that the drain and wall had been built by MPAJ.

“We have also sent a letter to the MPAJ and recently received a reply stating that they will be sending someone to fix the problem by this week,” Puncak Bukit Utama resident Jason Seah said.

Seah, however, said that they wanted to know what exactly was going to be done and whether the action taken was a temporary or permanent solution.

The last location the group visited was halfway up the slope and about a few hundred metres away from where the landslide had caused the most damage last year.

The group had to make their way carefully up the slope as it was uneven as well as muddy and slippery. “Though there is evidence of works that have been carried out to install pipes and drains on this slope, it is obviously not well done. Water collects into puddles on top of the slope,” said Taman Bukit Jaya RA committee member Zakaria Mat Zakaria.

He said the area was the location where MPAJ had set up their command centre during the landslide.

Zuraida, whose last visit to the area was during the landslide, said that the government had allocated RM60mil to JKR to fix the slope.

In bad shape: The group checking on a wall along the foothill of Puncak Bukit Utama that is on the verge of collapse.

“It is shoddy work. It doesn’t look like a million-ringgit job. I don’t under­stand why the drain they built comes to a dead end on the slope itself,” she said.

The puddles are about 20m away from where the drain ends.

She said the breakdown of the alloca­tion by JKR showed that RM10mil was to repair the slope and another RM10mil to reinforce the slope next to Kyoto Garden Condominium.

“The drainage problems that residents are worried about should also be fixed using that allocation because it is the source of the problems,” Zuraida said.

She said that she would be following up on the issues brought up by the various residents associations in the area with MPAJ, the developers and JKR.