Izham (right) inspecting the site of the Sungai Klang flood mitigation project located at Zone 6 in Alam Impian, Shah Alam. — Bernama
WASTE has become a major hindrance in carrying out the Sungai Klang rehabilitation exercise.
About 280 tonnes of waste had been removed throughout the rehabilitation process that started in November 2020 under the Menteri Besar Selangor (Incorporated) together with its wholly owned subsidiary Landasan Lumayan Sdn Bhd (LLSB).
On Jan 8, Selangor infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman Izham Hashim visited one parcel of the project by the riverbank at Zone 6 in Alam Impian, Shah Alam.
“Dredged material from the Klang river so far consists of 40% rubbish, 40% silt and 20% slurry material.
“The cutter suction of the dredging machine had to be stopped regularly to clear bulk waste items such as mattresses, tyres and even baby strollers.
“We never anticipated this much rubbish at the start of the project.
“The dredging machine needs to be stopped and the wastes need to be removed before work continues. This slows down the process.
“However, we are still on target and have covered about 5.9% of the work and the rehabilitation exercise is expected to end by 2028,” said Izham.
To prevent more rubbish entering the river, he said log booms would be installed at 35 identified smaller river outlets connected to Sungai Klang.
“We want to place these traps by end of this year,” Izham said, adding that he would also meet with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to discuss the river rehabilitation exercise.
He urged the factories to recycle their waste and discard it properly.
“The polluters must pay for the rubbish they dump,” he said.
Izham said the rehabilitation project costs about RM700mil with the aim to enhance water security and effective water resource management.
The project seeks to also increase the river’s capacity by 40% upon completion.
The project comprises a two-part Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) exercise. This includes deepening and widening 56km of Sungai Klang to expand the river capacity, mitigate floods and improve water quality.
The project also comprises the reinforcement of soil embankments and bund constructions to strengthen critical infrastructure to enhance potential disaster resilience.
The Sungai Klang river rehabilitation project consists of three key engineering components – design (hydrology and hydraulic analysis, bund improvement and slope protection work, including flood wall requirements), construction, and subsequent maintenance.
Twelve zones within four main blocks along the 56km of downstream Sungai Klang have been identified, with several marked as most vulnerable to flooding due to its shallow depth caused by decades of sediment build-up.
Sungai Klang’s position as the confluence point for many tributaries has led to the accumulation of large amounts of rubbish, resulting in high risk of flooding at multiple upstream locations.
The river rehabilitation project by MBI and LLSB is recognised as a high-impact initiative under the Selangor government’s Maritime Gateway Economic Development Zone (ZPE-SMG).
