KUALA LUMPUR – The East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) construction has been identified as the reason for Sg Klang’s murky waters, including in the River of Life project.
Kuala Lumpur Irrigation and Drainage Department deputy director S. Ratna Rajah said investigations on February 16 found cloudy water flowing from Sg Ampang in the Ampang Recreational Forest, near a treatment plant intake, to Sg Klang due to uncontrolled land clearing.
“We found that there was silt flow in the river coming from the EKVE project site in the Ampang Recreational Forest due to the ongoing earthworks.
“The murky water is caused by sediment that enters the river due to the contractor failing to implement the erosion and sediment control plan (ESCP), or implementing only lenient ESCP practices, at the project site, where earthworks, such as land clearing, reclamation and slope cutting, are being carried out,” he told Bernama.
All development projects must comply with ESCP, and developers need to ensure no silt or erosion flows out of the project site, he said.
“Developers are also required to submit ESCP for local authority approval before starting work.”
If ESCP is not implemented during the EKVE construction, he said, the issue of murky water will worsen when rainwater and soil enter Sg Ampang.
“Sg Ampang meets Sg Klang in Kg Berembang, or more precisely, at the SMART Control Centre.
“So, from there, (the water) enters Sg Klang and flows directly to the city centre (Masjid Jamek), and then Brickfields, before heading south and downstream to Selangor, and finally, reaching the sea at Port Klang.”
He said his department will report the matter to the Environment Department and local authorities for further action. – Bernama, February 18, 2021
