NKVE Shah Alam floods: Sungai Damansara flood mitigation project due 2031, PM orders speed-up

The flood-prone KM9.1 stretch of the NKVE at Shah Alam went under twice in three days. Both carriageways from KM9.1 to KM9.4 were closed on the evening of November 2 after heavy rain, and at 4.07am on November 4, all lanes in both directions between Shah Alam and Subang were again not passable. The stretch only reopened that afternoon.

It’s not a new problem. The Shah Alam toll plaza was closed by floodwaters in December 2021, and the area around the toll and the Shah Alam interchange flooded again in November 2025.

Shah Alam MP Azli Yusof says the recent flash floods at the NKVE/Shah Alam toll interchange, Kampung Melayu Subang and Seksyen 13 are all along the alignment of the Sungai Damansara flood mitigation plan (Rancangan Tebatan Banjir, or RTB). In a thread on Threads, he said the project will be fully completed around 2031.

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Azli puts the cost at about RM481 million, the same figure Sungai Buloh MP R Ramanan gave in October 2024. A reply in the Selangor state assembly in November 2024 put the federal allocation at RM545.7 million, with CSR Unggul Sdn Bhd appointed to carry out the project.

What’s being built

The project details tabled with that answer list upgrades to the main drainage and river system, an upgraded detention pond, a pump station, flood bunds, flood walls and parapet walls, and a flood drainage system. There are also drainage outlets laid by pipe jacking, a flap gate at the mouth of Sungai Air Kuning and gross pollutant traps.

Azli added that the river will be deepened, and that the works are being carried out in stages from upstream, across the Petaling and Shah Alam districts.

Kampung Melayu Subang is specifically part of the alignment, he said, with frequently hit roads such as Jalan Merbau, Jalan Tembusu and Jalan PKNS among the focus of the early mitigation works. TTDI Jaya, Bukit Jelutong and Seksyen 13 also benefit directly, he said, as the river and its tributaries flow through the Shah Alam corridor to Batu 3, where they join the Klang river.

A separate, state-funded RM8.05 million project on Anak Sungai Damansara, a tributary, covers a pump house, a flood wall and upgraded outlet structures and drains. Azli said flood works on the tributary target flash floods on the Subang/Shah Alam border, such as the area around the Batu Tiga Komuter station.

Contract runs until July 2031

According to the state assembly documents, the project started on October 16, 2024 and is scheduled to be completed on July 15, 2031.

On November 3, prime minister Anwar Ibrahim ordered the Sungai Buloh and Sungai Damansara flood mitigation projects to be expedited after repeated flooding in the area, Bernama reported. The two projects, which have two phases, were approved with a total allocation of nearly RM700 million and are now between 30% and 60% complete.

Anwar said he has instructed that work such as river dredging, for which contracts have already been awarded, be expedited, and that the rivers need to be widened and more retention ponds built. “Our priority is to speed things up,” he said after visiting the flood relief centre at Dewan Siantan in Kampung Melayu Subang.

Ramanan, now the human resources minister, said both phases are expected to be completed by 2029, Media Selangor reported. That’s earlier than the July 2031 completion date in the state assembly documents, and Azli’s own estimate.

Anwar will receive a progress report on the federal flood mitigation projects on Friday (November 6), while Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari is expected to update the state exco on state-level projects the same day. Amirudin also said a meeting with the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) that day will review the progress of state projects, including several contracts awarded as early as 2015 that remain incomplete.

Short-term measures

While the main projects are under way, the government is considering a temporary retention pond for Sungai Buloh, estimated at RM12 million. “The aim is not to stop flooding entirely, but at least to reduce the severity of the flooding currently occurring,” Ramanan said.

In Kampung Melayu Subang, where at least 92 homes were affected by the November 2 floods, state infrastructure exco Izham Hashim said the lower sections of the Sungai Pelempas embankments will be raised by 0.5 m to 1 m, at a cost of under RM1 million. The proposal was due to go to the state exco on November 5. Selangor has also allocated an additional RM70 million for 255 immediate flood projects such as pumps, drain clearing and riverbank repairs, and Izham said 177 of them have been completed.

Azli said he hopes the RTB won’t be delayed, and that the government should also review its interim measures and quick wins at the newest high-risk hotspots. He said he will continue to raise the matter in Parliament.

In the meantime, the Malaysian Meteorological Department has warned that rainfall of over 100 mm could continue across the Klang Valley each afternoon until the weekend. If you use the NKVE through Shah Alam, check PLUS’s traffic updates before heading out, don’t drive into floodwaters, and if your car isn’t covered for floods, consider a Special Perils add-on.

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