GEORGE TOWN – Residents living around the famed Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone not only have to put up with the current pandemic but also a public health scare of another magnitude as two main rivers in the area are noxiously littered with industrial waste.
After two years of being choked with rubbish, Sungai Nipah and Sungai Keluang, which flow through the zone that features top international manufacturing firms, are severely embarrassing the authorities while posing a health threat to the public.
The waters in the rivers are black, likely due to industrial waste, and their trash traps are overflowing with plastic waste.
The issue comes to the fore just as the area is locked down by the government under a conditional movement control order (CMCO).
The authorities now have to flush out two threats to the residents – the industrial waste and the rampaging Covid-19 virus.
During a site visit to Sungai Nipah, state executive councillor Datuk Abdul Halim Hussein assured that there is no chemical spillage from the factories located alongside the river.
Halim, a former Penang state assembly speaker and current assemblyman for Batu Maung which is under the CMCO, was inspecting the area after a report was lodged on the pollution.
The Department of Environment (DOE) will be collecting samples along the river to check for chemical contamination. A report will be published after the results are out, he said.
“We are looking to revive these rivers, but it needs a lot of money,” added Abdul Halim.
He said the authorities will approach residents and factories around the stretch of the river for their cooperation to prevent disposal of waste.
“From today onwards, we all have to be responsible. We will check on who is responsible for creating this pollution, and if legal action has to be taken then it will be so,” he said after visiting Sungai Nipah.
As for Sungai Keluang, the DOE is convinced that the rubbish is from fishermen who live on boat-houses along banks.
However, when residents were asked about this, they denied being the perpetrators, saying that the rubbish is being brought in by currents when the tide is high.
They also said that the rubbish may have originated from Jelutong, about 14 km away.
Department of Drainage and Irrigation (DID) district engineer Mohamed Rizal
Salim said that flood mitigation plans are underway in the area and
corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes by neighbouring multinational
companies (MNC) are welcome to help rein in pollution.
Abdul Halim explained that there are companies that are interested in doing something but they do not know what to do and where to start.
Sungai Nipah is located northeast of Kampung Naran, close to the Penang
International Airport and small factories, while Sungai Keluang is further north.
Both flow eastward into the southern part of the Penang Channel.
Sungai Keluang came under public scrutiny in mid-2019 when pollution identified as white foam was found floating on the river.
It was later confirmed by Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) that the source was a sewage treatment plant near Sungai Keluang that was undergoing upgrading works. The issue has since been resolved.
River pollution is a regular blight in Penang.
In 2016, Penangites saw notable pollution at Sungai Batu in the tourism belt of Batu
Ferringhi and The Vibes recently exposed the contamination of Sungai Tengah in Jawi, Nibong Tebal. – The Vibes, November 6, 2020.
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