5 of 12 River of Life projects in pre-implementation stage axed, says minister

 

The River of Life project, which involves eight rivers in the Klang Valley, comprises three components: river cleaning, river beautification, and commercialism and tourism.

PETALING JAYA: 

Federal territories minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa has revealed that five of the 12 River of Life (RoL) projects that were still in the pre-implementation stage have been cancelled.

Zaliha said the federal territories department had conducted a review of the 12 projects to ensure that only significant ones were carried forward.

“As a result, five projects were cancelled due to their limited contribution to achieving the RoL’s objectives,” she said in a written parliamentary reply.

Zaliha was responding to Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (PN-Sik) who asked for an update on the 12 projects following the 2024 auditor-general’s (A-G) report released in July.

She said the remaining seven projects would proceed, and that the procurement processes by the relevant agencies were underway to ensure smooth execution while fully addressing implementation risks.

The A-G’s report said that the RoL project, which has already faced more than eight years of delay, was unlikely to be completed this year.

It said as of July 2023, eight RoL-related projects from the total 159 were still ongoing, with progress ranging from 21% to 97.3%.

It also said that contractors had yet to be appointed for two projects following a contract termination, while 12 projects had yet to begin. A total of 135 have been completed.

The audit found that only 79.4% of the river beautification works had been completed, and only 50 out of 296 sewage treatment plants had been rationalised or upgraded.

An analysis also revealed that project delays had extended over eight years, resulting in increased costs for the government, the report said.

As of December 2023, over RM3.9 billion had been spent on the RoL against the allocated ceiling cost of RM4.36 billion.

The RoL project, which involves eight rivers in the Klang Valley, comprises three components: river cleaning, river beautification, and commercialism and tourism.

The report also said that none of the objectives of the RoL had been achieved. One key objective, to improve river water quality, has been difficult to achieve due to weaknesses in planning and execution, low asset operation levels, poor compliance, and low awareness of river care. - FMT