377 OUT OF 4,000 RIVERS IN MALAYSIA ARE GETTING SHALLOWER
377 rivers becoming narrower, shallower due to human activities
OUT of Malaysia’s more than 4,000 rivers, 377 are becoming narrower and shallower, potentially increasing flood risk during heavy rain, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the worrying situation was the result of unchecked human activities, including logging, agriculture and construction that had caused mud to settle into the rivers.
He said the importance of rivers as water catchment areas to mitigate flooding had been overlooked by many quarters, especially developers.
“Gazetted areas for water catchment are ignored by developers. When farming, agriculture, logging and construction sectors brush aside the importance of water catchment areas, the rivers end up being filled with mud,” Wan Junaidi said in reply to a question by Datuk Tiong King Sing (BNBintulu) at the Dewan Rakyat.
Tiong had raised public com plaints on the deplorable conditions of rivers affected by various development projects.
Yesterday, the New Straits Times reported that the government was planning to allow more people to mine and export sand, which would save the billions of ringgit spent on deepening rivers and protecting their embankments.
The move is also expected to allow state governments to collect royalties and prevent illegal sand exports.
Wan Junaidi had said most of the rivers were at a serious siltation stage, and that this was caused by both human and environmental factors.
Meanwhile, in another development, Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consu-merism Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the government had appointed a private company to inspect and monitor the accuracy of fuel station pumps to prevent fraud.
He said all pump machines at petrol stations must adhere to predefined standards and rules, and each petrol station operator was required by law to carry out annual calibration.
“There are suggestions that the government should conduct checks at petrol stations to ensure the pump meters tally with the amount of fuel dispensed.
“In this regard, we have appointed a company to make sure that all petrol pumps are set in accordance with the rules and regulations,” Hamzah said.
Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazal (BN-Bagan Serai) had claimed that some petrol station operators were tampering with the pump machines to manipulate the amount of fuel dispensed. Additional reporting by Arfa Yunus