Natural charm: Mohamed Khaled leading an inspection of Sungai Masai after launching the ‘Sungaiku Hartaku’ campaign at Kampung Pasir Gudang Baru in Masai.
JOHOR BARU: All 158 sewerage treatment plants, which are treating waste water from 1.2 million people living in Pasir Gudang and Tebrau, will be replaced under a Federal Government plan.
The proposal is to replace all these aging sewerage treatment plants with one centralised system known as water reclamation plant (WRP), which not only treats the water but also can produce about 260 million litres of water per day for industries.
Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the project was vital for the growth of Iskandar Malaysia.
“Phase 1 of the project itself will cost more than RM1bil. We hope this treated water can be channelled to industries in Pasir Gudang,” he said, adding that the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry would undertake this project.
“This will be good for Iskandar. WRP can help to supply water to industries instead of them relying on treated water from Syarikat Air Johor,” he said at the launch of the Sungaiku Hartaku programme along Sungai Masai here.
Mohamed Khaled said the WRP was not cheap as the Government spent RM250mil to build a plant to treat Sungai Segget in Johor Baru.
Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang said he would discuss the matter with the Iskandar Regional Development Authority soon.
Many of the sewerage treatment plants were between 20 and 30 years old, he said.
“They are not able to process all the sewerage and this is channelled into our waterways,” he added.
On another matter, Mohamed Khaled reminded the public not to discard rubbish into waterways as 229 rivers out of the 473 rivers nationwide are polluted.
