KUALA LUMPUR – The government is looking at harsher penalties for those found guilty of polluting rivers, after a spate of water disruptions in Selangor.
Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man told the Dewan Rakyat today that the Ministry is currently studying the amendments for the Environment Quality Act 1974.
“We will take firm action when it comes to our environment. Currently, the law provides for a penalty of RM100,000. However, the ministry wants to increase the penalty to RM10 million and the prison sentence from one year to 15 years or both.
“The Environment Department is in the process of making the amendments to the Environment Quality Act 1974 and make the penalty higher. The same applies for the compounds,” said Tuan Ibrahim during Question Time.
In his supplementary question, Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Rompin) then asked if the government will make a prison sentence mandatory for the environmental criminals, seeing the severity of their actions.
However, Tuan Ibrahim stated that currently, Putrajaya believes that stiffer penalties and a 15-year maximum jail sentence will be adequate deterrents for the culprits.
Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail (PKR-Kulim Bandar Baharu) then asked if the government will also amend the law to give compensation to members of the public who are affected by any water disruptions due to river water pollution.
“Will there be any compensation for the millions of consumers who are affected by water cuts because of water pollution? Will the government force the companies responsible to pay compensation or maybe the water concessionaire to pay the compensation?” asked Saifuddin.
The minister then told the Lower House that the government has no such plans to grant compensation to the public.
The stiffer penalties and increased prison sentence are part of the four initiatives that the ministry will take to ensure undisrupted water supply for the country.
Tuan Ibrahim said that since October 20, his ministry has administratively created a new Anti-Environmental Crimes Unit which will be placed in each state.
“Currently the ministry is using its officers with cooperation from the police. We will need another 50 officers for this unit, and they will be based in each state to prevent or act against crimes against the environment.
“We have also targeted to have 1,000 kms of trails under the National Trail project by 2023 to protect our rivers and we expect to have 10,000 kms of trails by 2030. We will also increase our treated water capacity by 15% to 20% through upgrading or constructing new water treatment plants.
“Finally, we will also construct raw water reservoir next to rivers (takungan air pinggiran sungai – TAPS) to ensure that water pollution will not be able to directly impact our raw water supply,” he said.
Under the 11th Malaysia Plan, four rivers have been identified for TAPS, namely Sungai Jernih, Sungai Melaka, Sungai Linggi and Sungai Johor, with an allocation of RM1.4 billion.
The government is also looking into building two more TAPS in Putrajaya to serve Sungai Semenyih and another in Rasau to serve Sungai Selangor. – The Vibes, November 3, 2020.
