Close watch on hillside projects
The Star 04/12/2002 By Dharmender Singh
THE Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) will start
monitoring all development projects in areas it deemed sensitive to ensure
all technical requirements are adhered to.
Council president Ahmad Fuad Ismail said when developers failed to follow
the requirements during the early stages of the development, the structure
such as slopes posed a problem after six or seven years.
He said the effects of a poorly constructed slope were not immediately
evident and took years to surface so the only way the council could ensure
all slope works were carried out properly was by close monitoring.
''We can lay down conditions for the developer to follow when working in
such sensitive areas but when the problems appear years later, the
developer might no longer exist and we have to solve the problem, he said.
He said the council was already facing a lot of problems due to the slope
failure in Taman Universiti Indah.
He added that the council had to spend a large amount of money to
strengthen it.
He said the council was fortunate that it did not have many such sensitive
areas in the municipality but that council officers should closely monitor
construction works in the few areas where developers were cutting slopes.
Ahmad Fuad said the council would protect the slope in Taman Universiti
Indah from further erosion with plastic sheets or netting.
He said the current rainy spell could cause more damage if the face of the
slope in Taman Universiti Indah where the landslide had taken place was
left bare.
He also called on council staff to check the condition of the drain on top
of the slope to ensure that it was not clogged as this would cause it to
overflow and send water running down the already weakened side of the
slope.
Ahmad Fuad, however, asked council staff receiving complaints over slope
failures to first ascertain that the slopes concerned were not located on
private land.
''We cannot carry out slope strengthening measures if the land is
privately owned. In such a case, the onus falls on the owner to ensure it
is safe,'' he said.
