River or Drain? « SJ Echo

Friday, 24 April 2009

River or Drain?

River Mistaken for Drain in USJ1

Bringing back life to the river...DID is proposing to rehabilitate this river and bring it back to its original pristine state. But will this succeed with the Malaysian attitude of treating our rivers like drains?

AT first glance, it looked like a broken down drain with heaps of vegetation and garbage around it.

What the Petaling District Drainage and Irrigation Department engineer Ishak Samsuddin revealed was shocking.

The "little drain" is actually a natural stream that eventually meets up with Sungai Kelang downstream.

No one can be blamed for thinking it is a drain considering the amount of indiscriminately dumped rubbish (mostly industrial waste) and thick vegetation that lined the embankments of the stream.

ADUN Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh who led a site visit to this stream in the vicinity of the USJ1 industrial area expressed her concern about the way people treated rivers and streams like rubbish dumps.

"Residents of the nearby condominium have complained that the every time it rained heavily, the water level of the stream rises."

"They are worried that this might cause flooding," she said.

Hannah expressed her concern that the area has now become a dumping ground for factories.

"Rubbish from the illegal dump is clogging up the stream and this will eventually lead to floods," she said, adding that factories should work closely with the authorities to dispose of their waste properly.

Ishak said the DID will clear the rubbish along the river bank. This he says will take time as the dumping was quite extensive.

"We hope to clear the stream of rubbish and come up with a programme to rehabilitate it."

"The river can be brought back to life. We can work with the community on this initiative," he said, adding that the river is a tributary of Sungai Kelang.

MPSJ councilor Roslan Shahir who was also on site urged all factories in the area to work closely with the council under the auspicies of the Industrial Park Management Committee.

"We can provide extra contractors to help factories dispose of their waste properly. Alam Flora contractors will not collect non-domestic waste items and as such, we can collectively find a way to ensure disposal is done properly," he said.

Later Roslan said the Residents Committee of Zone 4 (JKP Zone 4) which covers the USJ1 area was willing to work with any party to help bring back the river to its original pristine state.