Ambiga, KL residents to sue DBKL for information on flood mitigation measures

• Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet said DBKL’s response to its letter of demand by way of a press statement that there is an existing "Pelan Tindakan Banjir Kilat 2022" and that DBKL and government agencies are mitigating floods based on this plan, does not contain adequately detailed information on its flood mitigation strategy for Kuala Lumpur that would allow meaningful engagement, scrutiny and accountability by the public.

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): The lawyer who represents former Malaysian Bar president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan (pictured) and seven other residents have decided to file a lawsuit suit to compel the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Federal Territories Ministry to provide further information on its flood mitigation measures.

Lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, in a statement on Sunday (Sept 25), said DBKL’s response to its letter of demand by way of a press statement that there is an existing "Pelan Tindakan Banjir Kilat 2022" and that DBKL and government agencies are mitigating floods based on this plan, does not contain adequately detailed information on its flood mitigation strategy for Kuala Lumpur that would allow meaningful engagement, scrutiny and accountability by the public.

“Further, the 'Pelan Tindakan Banjir Kilat 2022' that was published in May 2022 was also drafted before the Auditor-General (AG)'s report was released in August 2022.

“Hence, it does not take into account the multiple weaknesses identified by the Auditor-General in its August 2022 report, which is crucial to mitigate flooding in Kuala Lumpur.

"Simply put, the 'Pelan Tindakan Banjir Kilat 2022' is an outdated plan that is inadequate to deal with the incoming monsoon season,” Lim said.

Lim said due to the gravity and urgency of the matter, “we have no choice but to file the suit in court.

“We hope the judiciary will compel DBKL and the minister to provide us [with] the required information, for the sake of all KL residents,” he said.

It was reported on Wednesday (Sept 21) that Ambiga and seven residents — Kiu Jia Yaw, Muhammad Taufiq Mohd Razak, Farah Syahidah Shamsuddin, Safiya Spahic, P Geethananthini, Shah Fariq Aizal Sha Ghazni and Nur Aneesa Mohammad Nizam — had on Monday (Sept 19) sent a letter of demand (LOD) to KL mayor Datuk Seri Mahadi Che Ngah and Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

The eight had sought to gain information on the city's flood mitigation plan updates, after the AG highlighted several failures last month.

The residents gave DBKL and the minister five days from Monday (Sept 19) to respond.

They said in the LOD, citing the report by the AG, that only eight out of 104 or 7.7% of flood mitigation measures proposed in the 2017 masterplan have been implemented, or are in the process of implementation by DBKL.