HEAVY rains caused part of a retaining wall in Taman Seri Minang, Balakong, to collapse on Tuesday. The backyards of six double-storey houses were affected as a result. 

The incident occurred at around 3pm and brought down the fencing while exposing several underground pipes. 

Resident Loh Chun Liang said prior to the incident, several cracks had appeared on the portion of the wall located near the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) sub-station opposite the first house. 

"It constantly rains in the evenings and we fear another occurrence. I cannot evacuate from my house because I have nowhere else to go. The incident occurred only 0.5m from my kitchen," said Loh, whose house is the second in the row. 

Balakong assemblyman Datuk Hoh Hee Lee, who was informed of the incident, alerted the Kajang Municipal Council.  

On Wednesday, Hoh and council president Datuk Hasan Nawawi Abd Rahman visited the affected area, accompanied by council engineer Fadilah Razali. 

According to Fadilah, investi-gations showed that the developer had failed to comply with council regulations to build a proper retaining wall. 

"Retaining walls below 1.5m can be built using rubble but walls above the height must be built using reinforced concrete. The developer Mitraland Holdings Sdn Bhd was instructed to build a reinforced concrete wall by the council but failed to do so," she said. 

"The council has appointed a contractor to clear the debris and build a proper wall immediately. The RM250,000 cost will be billed to the developer," she said. 

Fadilah also said that the matter would be reported to the Board of Engineers. 

Asked if legal action would be taken against the developer, Hasan said the council?s legal department would look into the matter. 

"The developer has other ongoing housing projects so we have the upper hand. Failure to comply with the council guidelines is a serious matter as residents are affected," he said. 

No representative of Mitraland was present during the site visit.