New Selangor policies aim to hit river polluters hard

Selangor infrastructure and public amenities, agriculture modernisation and agro-based industry committee chairman Izham Hashim. - Filepic/The Star

THE Selangor government will be introducing the Zero Discharge Policy and Polluters Pay Principle by the third quarter of this year as deterrents against pollution of rivers and to ensure zero discharge into water sources.

“Under the Zero Discharge Policy, industries and factories have to pay for whatever they discharge into a river, even if it doesn’t cause pollution,” said Selangor infrastructure and public amenities, agriculture modernisation and agro-based industry committee chairman Izham Hashim.

“This is part of the holistic approach taken by the state government to ensure the cleaning and rehabilitation of rivers in Selangor.”

Other steps include installation of seven log booms at the tributaries that feed into Sungai Klang, awareness campaigns with 56 Friends of Rivers organisations and use of the Interceptor to remove plastic and other waste along the river.

Izham was speaking after a ride on Interceptor 005 along Sungai Klang with The Ocean Cleanup founder and chief executive officer Boyan Slat, Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd (LLSB) managing director Syaiful Azmen Nordin and Selangor princess Tengku Zatashah Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

The Interceptor, a watercraft built by Dutch non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup (TOC), has played a key role in clean-up efforts. It uses a barrier and conveyor belt system that gathers and extracts plastic from rivers.

LLSB was appointed by the Selangor government as the master developer to implement key activities in the cleaning, rehabilitation and rejuvenation of Sungai Klang under the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) project.