A member of the Selangor state exco has proclaimed that the increased flooding in the state isn’t caused by deforestation, but rather because there’s just been more rainfall lately.
Exco for Tourism, Environment, Green Technology, and Consumer Affairs Elizabeth Wong of PKR said the added rainfall has resulted in Selangor’s water drainage infrastructure becoming inadequate to mitigate flooding.
“Consequently, rain water spills over into residential areas to cause floods,” she told Sinar Harian.
The Bukit Lanjan assemblyperson also urged the public to view Selangor’s flooding woes by observing the facts, and not to rely on conjecture or opinions on Facebook.
On a related note, the Selangor state government announced that it aimed to restore and protect 33% of the state’s reserve forests from encroachment or illegal logging by 2025.
To date, Wong said Selangor had managed to restore and protect 31% of the state’s reserve forests.
“To that end, we will be reevaluating state ordinances and laws to ensure that Selangor State Forestry Department enforcers will be given more powers of oversight
“In fact, we will be raising the fines and length of imrisonment for related offences to ensure we reach our target,” she said.
Wong added that the districts in Selangor most heavily affected by encorachment into forest reserve land and illegal logging are Sabak Bernam, Kuala Langat and Gombak.
