PONDAGE PARK CAN MITIGATE FLOOD WOES
THE Penang Island City Council (MBPP) should consider developing a pondage park that could serve as a catchment to mitigate flood during rainy days at Taman Beriksa here.
Retired civil servant Chow Siew Cheong, 63, said a pondage park in the area could be useful and claimed to have written to the relevant authorities to consider the proposal.
Chow, who was retired assistant valuation officer with the then Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP), said that the 3.048ha MBPP-owned Taman Beriksa park could have replicated the Bukit Dumbar model, a manmade hill built over an impounding reservoir.
“I am pretty sure that the consumerist and environmentalist lobby, which is very vocal over the whole hillslope protection and water conservation, will also be supportive of green infrastructure projects promoting flood mitigation and rainwater harvesting,” he said.
Apart from Taman Beriksa, he also pointed out that there were several plots of land surrendered to the then-MPPP that could have implemented the same concept as well.
Two parcels of land opposite SJK(C) Chiao Nan, meant for a sports and recreation centre, and an open space, were re-dedicated for religious purposes and as burial ground.
He said that these parks could have replicated Austria’s Gruner See, a park that doubles as pondage when snow melts in spring.