By Yasmin Ramlan
SHAH ALAM, Nov 17 — Slope repair works at the site of the Batang Kali landslide are on course to be completed as scheduled by March 29 next year, said state executive councillor for infrastructure Izham Hashim.
To date, the progress of the work, estimated to cost RM19 million, has reached 38.6 per cent since it began on May 28 this year.
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State executive councillor for infrastructure and agriculture Ir Izham Hashim at the Selangor State Assembly session in Shah Alam on 16 November 2023. — Picture by HAFIZ OTHMAN/SELANGORKINI[/caption]
“If everything goes smoothly, InsyaAllah, we will reopen the Batang Kali-Genting Highlands road to the public one or two months after completing the repair works,” he said at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
Currently, only one lane is operating along the road, although it is limited to those working in Genting Highlands.
Izham was responding to a written question from Kuala Kubu Baru state assemblyman Lee Kee Hiong regarding the full report of the landslide incident in December 2022 and the current status of its repair works.
Elaborating further, he said the detailed report of the incident has been available for download on the National Disaster Management Agency’s website since October 17.
In the 2.30am tragedy on December 16 last year, 31 people were killed and 61 others injured after a landslide buried the Father’s Organic Farm camping area in Batang Kali. The incident claimed the lives of 18 adults and 13 children.
Izham said the state government had conducted a thorough review and determined the landslide was not caused by negligence but rather by slope failure due to heavy rainfall.
On October 17, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the cumulative major rainfall for five days of 118.6 millimetres, combined with a month of cumulative antecedent rainfall of 44.8mm before the landslide occurred, caused the collapse.
