KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat was today told that out of 1,488 aged trees inspected around the federal capital since 2019, 173 have been cut down because they posed a high risk to the public.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa said the assessment was carried out by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and continuous inspections will be conducted on aged trees.
“To reflect DBKL’s commitment, 21 contractors have been appointed starting June 15, 2024, for the regular maintenance of shade trees, and each contractor must provide an arborist, a specialist in tree inspection, to assess the health and mitigation actions for the trees,” she said during the question-and-answer session.
She was replying to a question from Zahir Hassan (PH-Wangsa Maju) on measures to ensure that trees under DBKL’s supervision and on private premises comply with guidelines to prevent danger to the public.
For tree maintenance work, she said according to DBKL records, from January to June, maintenance work has been carried out on 22,283 trees.
As for trees on private premises, Dr Zaliha said DBKL has issued 65 notification letters regarding risky trees on private properties, based on public complaints from 2021 to last May.
Answering Zahir’s question about data on injury and accident incidents due to fallen trees in Kuala Lumpur, she said there have been 14 accident cases caused by such incidents, with nine cases resulting in injuries and five cases resulting in deaths, from 2017 to 2024.
She noted that out of those, three cases are still under investigation and court proceedings, six cases were dismissed because the accidents occurred outside DBKL’s jurisdiction, and the remaining five cases have been settled by insurance companies.
