Government considering building a SMART tunnel in Shah Alam to mitigate floods in the area – Ismail Sabri

The government is considering building a SMART (Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel) system in Shah Alam to mitigate floods in the area, The Star reports. According to prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, this is one of several short- and long-term initiatives mooted to resolve flood issues in the country and to minimise the effects of such disasters on the rakyat.

Ismail Sabri said the proposal to construct more storm drainage tunnels like SMART in high-densitry areas such as Shah Alam was brought up in a national disaster management committee meeting chaired by him.

Construction of the SMART tunnel began in 2003 and was completed in 2007, with a cost of around RM1.88 billion. The 9.7 km tunnel is the longest stormwater drainage tunnel in Southeast Asia and second longest in Asia, while also being the first world’s first dual-function tunnel with a 4 km motorway tunnel.

“The meeting had also endorsed a host of proposals by the environment and water ministry, including to upgrade, deepen and widen main rivers, and to build more barriers and barrages. There are also plans to develop settlement areas that are resilient like sponge cities in China,” he said.

Barrages are a type of low-head, diversion dam which have a series of large gates that can be opened or closed to manage the amount of water passing through. Meanwhile, a sponge city is an urban area which has been designed to cope with excess rainfall using a variety of techniques to provide the area with the ability to naturally absorb water, such as reducing number of hard surfaces and instead increasing the amount of absorbent land.

“All these proposals are comprehensive solutions to the flood problem and they involve not only allocations by the billions of ringgit but also a long time before they can materialise. Therefore, the meeting agrees for the government to focus on high-risk areas and that priority be given to implement these plans,” Ismail Sabri noted.

Other measures that were proposed include improving the flood siren and warning system at drainage and irrigation department centres as well as better CCTV monitoring. A flood forecast and warning system based on artificial intelligence would also be developed, while around 100 weather observation stations would be upgraded.

“I have also directed authorities to ensure that urban planning takes into consideration flood risks. We will also strengthen the local community where community leaders will be tasked as first responders in a disaster,” said Ismail Sabri.

The recent floods that struck various states caused an estimated RM6.1 billion in losses due to damage of public assets and infrastructure, houses, vehicles and business premises.

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