In the
wake of the flash floods that hit the heart of Johor Baru on Nov 16, followed
by another smaller flood on Nov 24, MP for Pulai, Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed,
made a recent working visit to the Sungai Segget site project.
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| Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed [Right] asking questions during a briefing by IRDA personnel, [L to R] Abd Halim Mohd Nor, Mohd Zam Mustaman and Datuk Benjamin Hasbie |
The RM240
million Sg Segget project, is one of the initiatives of Iskandar Regional
Development Authority (IRDA) under the JB Transformation Programme that aims to
sustain the city as the capital of Johor by providing economic activities, city
living and amenities that are aligned with the vision of Majlis Bandaraya JB
(MBJB) and Iskandar Malaysia.
At the IRDA
Project Management Office (PMO), Nur Jazlan, who is also deputy home minister, was briefed on Phase 1 of the
project, which is the construction of the Sungai Segget Water Treatment Plant
at the confluence of the Sungai Segget and Sungai Molek and Phase 2, for Sg
Segget flood mitigation and the beautification of Jalan Wong Ah Fook.
“As the
principal coordinating agency responsible for the Sg Segget project, we feel
responsible and are striving hard to alleviate the situation to minimize
property damage and grief to businesses in the affected areas,” said IRDA Projects
& PMO, Head, Mohd Zam Mustaman.
 |
| Abd Halim Mohd Nor [Right] briefing Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed on Phase 2 of the project on Sg Segget which runs parallel with Jalan Wong Ah Fook in JB |
IRDA Projects
& PMO Sr Vice President, Abd Halim Mohd Nor, explained the technical
details about the Water Treatment Plant and said that construction which
started in June 2013 is now 47.30% completed and scheduled for completion by
June 2016.
Abd Halim
announced that Phase 2 of the project which started in Jan 2014, is 54.10%
completed now and due to be ready by June 2016.
He also
clarified that Komtar JBCC is situated in a water sub-catchment area and more
prone to flash floods due to its gradient.
While on-going
upgrading work is in progress on the Sg Segget tidal gate, additional pumps and
a generator are employed to help pump out excess water into the Johor Straits
when necessary.
 |
| Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed also visited the Sg Segget tidal gate which has been serving JB for decades |
Nur Jazlan
agreed that the land reclamation work in the Johor Straits may have also
affected the tidal currents and created more sediments at the river mouth which
inadvertently causes poorer drainage run-off from Sg Segget into the Straits.
When
completed, the historical tidal gate will be upgraded to operate in tandem with
an adjacent new pump sump and control house equipped with a SCADA (supervisory
control and data acquisition) system that operates by automatic sensor response.
In the
course of the project, IRDA discovered that there are no blueprints for Sg
Segget even when they checked the records with utility agencies like Syarikat
Telekoms and Tenaga Nasional.
 |
| Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed and IRDA personnel updating the media at the press conference |
“If JB
aims to be an international city, it is unacceptable that the city does not
have proper maps, plans and data on Sg Segget,” said Nur Jazlan who advised
IRDA to work with MBJB to collect accurate data from the relevant agencies to
be made available for better information and future reference.
As a
result of continuous heavy rainfall that coincided with a super high tide that
peaked at 3.5m at 1.47pm on Nov 16, Jalan Meldrum, Jalan Siu Nam, Jalan Siu
Chin and Jalan Siu Koon, as well as the stretch between Komtar JBCC and Menara
Public Bank along Jalan Wong Ah Fook, were inundated by flash floods of up to
0.75m in depth.
After
similar rainfall recorded between 85mm to 75mm that coincided with super high
tide of 3.5m that peaked at 9.45am on Nov 24, only the stretch in front of
Komtar JBCC was affected by flash floods that measured 0.3m high around 10.45am
but the waters subsided quickly.
A version of this was published in The Malaysian Insider on 29 Nov 2015
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