Ampang community and council ensure slopes monitored

Ampang community and council ensure slopes monitored

By CHOONG MEK ZHIN
mekzhin@thestar.com.my

AMPANG has come a long way since its last major landslide in 2008 and this year the residents and the local authority are playing important roles in slope mitigation and increasing awareness on the problem.

At the forefront of creating awareness on slope mitigation is the Coalition of Bukit Antarabangsa Residents’ Association (CoBARA).

The association’s SlopeWatch programme consists of a small group of people who work towards ensuring the hills are monitored and maintained.

Programme chairman Razak Baharom said they had engaged the community since the programme’s inception and worked out a system with the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) on reporting slope problems.

“This has resulted in a more efficient way of handling such incidences,” he said.

According to him, the preventive action taken by the MPAJ has helped prevent landslides.

Programme director Eriko Motoyama said in the aftermath of the landslide, residents tended to be anxious over anything they perceived as slope problems.

“Many tended to believe landslides happen out of the blue but there are many signs before one happens where preventive action can be taken,” she said.

Safe: Though it is now covered in grass and nicely terraced, this slope is a stark reminder to many of the 2008 Bukit Antarabangsa landslide tragedy that eventually cost RM70mil to repair.

While Bukit Antarabangsa residents are learning to cope with living in a high-risk area and are becoming increasingly aware of their responsibility in slope maintenance, those living in other parts of Ampang are still struggling with the problem.

Some, like those living in Kampung Bukit Sungai Puteh, have been known to continue living in their houses despite a landslip behind their homes.

“When we receive reports of any slope incident including those on private land, we take immediate action by installing tarpauline sheets on the exposed soil to prevent more water seeping into the ground,” said MPAJ president Datuk Mohammad Yacob, adding the council monitored about 600 slopes in Ampang.

He said when a landslide occurred on private land, the council would send a notice to the owner for rectification work.

On MPAJ’s part, they have also organised two talks this year for those living in strata-titled units and included a session where MPAJ’s slope division head Zafrul Fazry Mohd Fauzi would educate them on slope issues.

The council has also distributed booklets called Guidelines on Slope Maintenance for Public with basic information on slope maintenance to the residents.

Mohammad said they had a Disaster Control Room with teams on standby for emergencies such as landslides, soil erosion, flash floods and even fallen trees.

“Whenever the rainy season approaches, we have three teams on standby. During other times we only have one,” he said of the room that was established in 2007.

Even developers are starting to play a more responsible role in slope-mitigation and one such work that took place this year was along Jalan Wangsa 1 in Bukit Antarabangsa where a landslide occurred 12 years ago, cutting off access for thousands living there.

A spokesman of the landowner and developer, Superview Development Sdn Bhd, said the work was a result of a notice sent by MPAJ three years ago.

“We hired a geotechnical expert to study the slope’s water content and type of soil before coming up with the best design possible to strengthen the slope,” he said.

The project was completed recently and the developer has reassured residents that they have no further plans to develop the slope.