Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has cut down 175 trees it classified as risky, after inspecting 1,588 old trees around the capital.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr. Zaliha Mustafa said the assessment was carried out by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in addition to ongoing inspections of old trees.
“To reflect DBKL’s commitment, a total of 21 contractors have been appointed from 15 June 2024 for the regular maintenance of rendang trees and each contractor must provide an arborist, an individual who specializes in tree inspection, to assess the level of health and mitigation actions on the trees,” she said during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
She was responding to a question from Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) who wanted to know the action to ensure that trees under the supervision of DBKL and private premises comply with guidelines to avoid the threat of danger to the public.
Regarding tree maintenance works, she said, according to DBKL records, maintenance works have been carried out on 22,283 trees from January to June.
Regarding trees on private premises, Dr. Zaliha said that DBKL had issued 65 notification letters regarding trees at risk in private areas as a result of public complaints since 2021 until last May.
Responding to Zahir’s question about the data on incidents of injuries and accidents due to fallen trees in Kuala Lumpur, she said that there were 14 cases of accidents caused by the incident with nine cases resulting in injuries and five cases of death for the period from 2017 to 2024.
According to her, out of that number, three cases are still under investigation and court proceedings, six cases were rejected because accidents occurred outside DBKL’s supervisory area, while the remaining five cases have been paid by the insurance.
