KUALA LUMPUR: The River of Life (RoL) project, which seeks to transform the Klang and Gombak rivers into vibrant waterfronts, is now 67 per cent complete, with full completion expected in 2020.
Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said at this juncture, the first phase of the river beautification project, covering the river stretch around the Masjid Jamek-Daya Bumi area, is now 93.7 per cent complete.
“It (the first phase) is expected to be completed in stages starting April 15,” he said in reply to a question from Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong (PKR-Wangsa Maju).
Tan had asked Tengku Adnan (BN-Putrajaya) on the status of the RoL project.
There are three major components to the RM4.4 billion RoL project — river cleaning; river master planning and beautification; and river development.
The RoL project aims to transform the Klang and Gombak rivers into vibrant and bustling waterfronts.
Of the total RM4.4 billion, RM3.4 billion is to clean up the river, and RM1 billion is for landscaping.
The RoL project was launched in 2012 and headed by the government in collaboration with the private sector.
It is one of the government’s high impact initiatives to bring Malaysia to a developed country status by 2020.
For the RoL project alone, it is estimated that by 2020 it will deliver affordable housing for more than 35,000 new residents, one million square metres of commercial space and over 27,000 new employment opportunities.
It will also raise the public transportation usage within the master plan area from 15 per cent to 60 per cent and reduce traffic demand by 15 per cent by 2020.