A MULTI-pronged rehabilitation strategy is being adopted to clean up five heavily polluted rivers in Penang.
Sungai Juru, Sungai Prai, and waterways near the Penang Bridge on the mainland, as well as Sungai Tiram and Sungai Pinang on the island have been earmarked for the immediate rehabilitation.
State Tourism Development and Environment Committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow said the state government wanted the dying rivers revived.
“We want the cleaned up rivers to remain clean,” he told newsmen after opening an Awareness and Water Quality Improvement programme at Lorong Kulit, near Sungai Pinang.
The rehabilitation of Sungai Juru and Sungai Prai is handled by the Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) under the Northern Corridor Economic Region programme.
“Sungai Tiram and waters near the Penang Bridge in Prai would be treated with mud balls that cost between RM2,500 to RM3,000 to reduce the unbearable stench. We expect to have the stench re-duced within two to three months,” said Teng, adding a consultant was preparing a proposal to improve Sungai Pinang from Class IV to a better category.
State Drainage and Irrigation De-partment deputy director Mohd Abu Bakar Othman said with effective rehabilitation, Sungai Pinang could be upgraded to Class II (clear water) within five years.
Teng said it would cost RM500,000 to clean up each kilometre of a river using the bio-engineering technique.
“We have not decided if we wanted to adopt the bio-engineering method. Using this technique would be very costly in the long run because we have to fork out so much money every few months to keep the river clean,” he added.
On sources of pollution, he said Sungai Tiram was polluted because of pig farming while the waters around Penang Bridge were polluted because of industrial discharge.
“The Seberang Prai Municipal Council is checking samples collected from 156 factories in the area. Many of the factories are not equipped with suitable-sized containers to treat discharged waters,” he said.
Teng said the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry had allocated RM10,000 to each of the 40 assemblymen in Penang for river cleaning projects.
“Please do not waste the money on t-shirts and meals for river cleanliness awareness campaigns.
“Instead, use it to buy river cleaning tools and equipment to help maintain the cleanliness of rivers.”
source the star Wednesday August 29, 2007
