New sites for heavy machinery workshops

MPS enforcement officers confiscating equipment from the illegal workshop during the joint operation.

Selangor government will identify suitable sites to relocate businesses illegally operating on state land.

The exercise will start with those under the jurisdiction of Selayang Municipal Council (MPS).

State local government, public transport and new village development committee chairman Ng Sze Han said there were numerous high-risk businesses, such as heavy machinery workshops, many of which are located near rivers.

“There is a need for us to look for an industrial site more suitable for these types of businesses.

“However, we would have to discuss potential sites with developers as there are a few large industrial estates being planned in this area, ” he said, adding that the proposal was also to address river pollution.

“The Gombak Land and District Office (PDT), MPS and other agencies are still identifying businesses that are operating on state land, ” Ng said, during a demolition of an illegal workshop in Selayang yesterday.

During the operation, a heavy machinery workshop that had been operating illegally for over 10 years by the Sungai Garing riverbank was torn down.

The workshop was one of eight such businesses that were previously identified to be operating along Sungai Rawang and its tributaries in Selayang.

Two other workshops were demolished during a similar operation last week.

Ng urged the public to report such illegal businesses to the land office and local councils.

Led by PDT, the operation included officers from MPS, Selangor Drainage and Irrigation Department, Selangor Water Management Authority and Selangor Department of Environment.

Since September, several incidents of odour pollution were traced to Sungai Rawang and Sungai Gong, leading to water supply disruptions affecting over a million account holders in the Klang Valley.

Four water treatment plants – Sungai Selangor Phases 1,2, 3 and Rantau Panjang –had to be closed down.

In several cases, the solvents in Sungai Gong were eventually traced to nearby workshops dealing in car parts and machinery.