KUALA LUMPUR: Of Malaysia’s over 4,000 rivers, 377 are becoming narrower and shallower, thus raising the risk of flooding during heavy rains, the Dewan Rakyat was told on Tuesday.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the worrying development is the result of unchecked human activities, including logging, agriculture and construction, which have caused mud to settle into the affected rivers.
He said that the importance of rivers as water catchment areas which can mitigate flooding is disregarded by many quarters, especially developers.
“Gazetted areas for water catchment are ignored by developers,” said Wan Junaidi in a reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu) at Dewan Rakyat.
He added that when the farming, agriculture, logging and construction sectors brush aside the importance of water catchment areas, rivers end up being filled in with mud.
"If we want to save our rivers, an allocation of hundreds of billions of ringgit is needed,” he said.
Wan Junaidi also said that the government is always quickly judged and criticised when a concession is awarded for the right to conduct sand mining at the mouths of rivers.
“The volume and duration of sand mining operations are not (done) blindly, but in accordance with certain agreements,” he added.
King Sing had raised complaints by the public on the conditions of rivers in Malaysia which have been affected by various development projects.
Reporting by FARHANA SYED NOKMAN, FERNANDO FONG and ARFA YUNUS