IPOH: Rock blasting will be among the proposed steps to alleviate flood problems facing an old folks home in Gunung Rapat here.
Explosives may be used to remove subsurface rocks in order to deepen a shallow monsoon drain leading from a factory to the Persatuan Rumah Sri Bahagia home, 600 metres away.
It will be among the proposals to be tabled at a meeting by the Ipoh City Council to find a permanent solution to the six-year-old problem, said Perak executive council member Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon.
He said the meeting, to be chaired by Ipoh Mayor Datuk Roshidi Hashim, would be attended by relevant agencies, including the Minerals and Geoscience Department and state Land Office.
Persatuan Rumah Sri Bahagia's 57 residents have been experiencing the problem whenever it rained heavily since 2006.
Last November, 30 residents had to be moved to safety when flood water rose to a metre high. "We have identified the main source of the problem that was causing the floods," Dr Mah told reporters after visiting the home yesterday.
He also visited a machinery factory together with Roshidi, and Ipoh City Council (MBI) and Public works department engineers. Also present was home vice president Ling Yoke Teik.
Dr Mah said the managing director of the company operating the factory had agreed to bear the cost of deepening the monsoon drain to improve water flow.
He said the managing director said they needed to get a permit from the Minerals and Geoscience Department to conduct rock blasting to deepen the drains.
"There are big rocks in the drain that need to be blasted so that the drain can be deepen."
Dr Mah said there were also two former retention ponds in the drain's path that were hampering the water flow.
"The engineers have confirmed that if the steps discussed are implemented, we will be able to solve the flood problem."
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