“The construction has nothing to do with the floods,” state infrastructure and agriculture exco Izham Hashim told reporters in Taman Sri Muda today.

He said the planning permission for the project was obtained in 2015 and the building plan was approved in 2017, “which meant that all conditions had been met, including in terms of the buffer area and underground retention pond.”

He was commenting on a viral video of a woman alleging that the construction project was the cause of the floods in the area.

Instead, Izham stressed that the floods were due to the unusual amount of rainfall and the high tide phenomenon.

“Taman Sri Muda is located in a low-lying area. When the high tide phenomenon occurs and there is backflow, we need to close the gate. Otherwise, the water from Sungai Rasau and Sungai Klang will flow into the area.

“When we close the gate, we would use the pumps but during the recent floods, all the power substations were submerged in flood waters and the electricity supply was cut off. The two locations to pump water out were also affected and we had to do it manually,” he explained.

Izham said the state government was building another sluice gate in Taman Sri Muda which is expected to be completed within a year.