UNSCRUPULOUS development has been cited as one of the main factors why rivers in the country, including Sungai Pahang, are seeing reduced water flow.
“If you look at the river reserve (land) in Malaysia, I don’t know if the river reserve rules are being observed.
“The developers, contractors and planters, do they really follow the regulations?,” Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told the New Straits Times.
Wan Junaidi said the sudden drop of water levels in rivers nationwide was not caused by El Nino alone, but because of people. Development and human activities encroaching on water catchment areas and river banks nationwide make up 25 per cent of the major grouses received by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).
A DID spokesman said complaints of such activities included logging, sand mining, land clearing for agriculture and gold mining.
The complaints would be forwarded to the state Land and Mines Office, District and Land Office or local authorities for further action.
“Among the actions that can be taken are issuing stop-work orders, impounding and prosecution of those involved.
“The laws that come under their purview are laws that are regulated and enforced by the state itself such as Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman said anyone who wanted to carry out projects near river banks needed to obtain a licence from the state authorities.
Wan Junaidi said his ministry was drafting a framework and law that involved all stakeholders to tackle the problem.
“This will be a practical framework — a water-management programme with a total solution.
“We invite stakeholders, the state authorities, Federal Government, National Water Services Commission, Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry (KeTTHA) … everybody to come and contribute.”
He plans to present the framework that his ministry has drafted to the National Physical Planning Council, state Land Councils, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the heads of all states.
He said domestic water supply was under the purview of KeTTHA, while water for agriculture was under the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry.
“We don’t have any central water-management body in Malaysia, and we should. All these things must be looked at in totality because there are things that are not being done.”
Wan Junaidi said he had raised the issue with the cabinet, and the Economic Planning Unit had been directed to look into it. He said it was a problem that should have been addressed 30 years ago.
“It may take a while but this should have been done since Merdeka. Today, in 2016, it is a wake-up call.”