Klang River Rehabilitation

Klang River was highlighted again recently. The Chief Minister of Selangor told the State Assembly of Selangor that a 20-year plan costing RM 10 billion will be drawn out to rehabilitate the Klang River. Once rehabilitated, Klang River is comparable to the Singapore River and Cheonggycheon River in Seoul, Korea in becoming the icon for Selangor as well as bringing in RM 5 billion revenue. 9 strategies have been outlined in making the project a success. These include relocation of polluted activities along the river reserve, deepening of the river bed, rehabilitation of the river ecological system and beautification of the river bank. In doing so, the participation of various stakeholders are important and critical. As Klang River is running through the Kuala Lumpur Federal Territory, active involvement and support of Kuala Lumpur City Hall and Federal Agencies is very significant. Similarly, greater tolerance and coordination amongst the stakeholders especially the agencies is another key success factor.

Under current economic situation, investment and financial support from the private sector is equally important. Having said this, to me the success of this program is very much depended on the involvement and support of the people. Rehabilitation is not as easy as solving with the engineering solutions and sufficient resources allocation, but raising the awareness and ownership of the people. The people is the main culprit for river pollution. We know that rubbish is the major polluter of river and it was the people who dumped it into the river. By getting people to not throwing the rubbish in the public area, drain, lake and river, we can see the immediate effect of having a better quality of river water. Thereby, community participation must be the starting and continue effort. Ignoring the individual public effort and participation is a problem by itself.

Secondly, while implementing the new strategies is important, recognising existing initiatives and providing support is equally critical. Existing initiatives gearing toward the river rehabilitation should be given proper support and duplicated elsewhere, if found effective and replicable. Currently, there are many community groups and NGOs have started some minor community projects for the up keeping of the river. Perhaps an inventory study should be carried out and followed by a consultative session with all affected stakeholders will provide a clearer picture on the direction of Klang River Rehabilitation programme.

We cannot afford to fail again after the failure of Klang River Rehabilitation Project in year 1990. I believe, this time we can do it. And I hope to tell my next generation that I am part of the solution to it.