It's high time the Penang government immediately implements its long overdue river and drainage upgrading projects to stop the pollution of rivers, clogged drains and flash floods on the island.

Although the state drainage and irrigation department (DID) drafted a master flood mitigation project plan to upgrade rivers and drainage system on the island about 10 years ago, it has yet to take effect.

"Rivers are polluted, narrowed and dirty. This causes floods in George Town city," said Penang DAP Citizen Against Government Waste Committee chairperson Teh Yee Cheu.

In an immediate response, state DID director Nordin Hamdan said the federal government would allot RM20 million to upgrade the downstream of Sungai Pinang under the 9th Malaysia Plan.

The river upstream had already been widened and deepened under the Phase 1 package, which cost about RM20 million.

Besides that, he said the department had carried out routine maintenance work on rivers such as clearing vegetation and collecting rubbish.

"We will first widen and deepen Sungai Pinang before moving on to other rivers. But it will take time," he told malaysiakini.

Teh's survey revealed that the island's drainage system was not effective in disposing dirty water.

He said the authorities should have upgraded the drainage system to dispose dirty water from drains to the sewage system, instead of channeling it into the rivers.

"This will reduce river pollution," he added

However, to put the blame on the authorities alone is not fair.

Indiscriminate littering

According to Nordin, the public also compounded the problem with their indiscriminate littering, especially those living along the river and eatery operators.

"These irresponsible citizens have turned rivers into rubbish dumps," he said.

He said the DID and local municipality have been working closely in maintaining the cleanliness of the rivers.

On this, Teh said the council was also not strictly enforcing the by-laws pertaining to cleanliness and punishing offenders.

"If only council enforcement officials were to clampdown hard on these irresponsible citizens, the drains would not be clogged, rivers would not be marred by garbage and flash floods could be prevented," he added.

Among the rivers on the island, Sungai Pinang is the worst affected. It has remained polluted for years.

Over the years, environmentalists and community leaders have voiced various suggestions to widen, deepen, clean and beautify the rivers.

Teh said although the state government, via DID, had spent millions to carry out ad-hoc projects to clean the rivers, it has yet to carry out a long term comprehensive project plan upgrade and maintain their cleanliness.

"Consequently the rivers have remained murky, dirty and polluted for years," he added.

Penang Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) chairperson S Kanda Kumar said that indiscriminate hill cutting and uncontrolled hill nurseries have caused soil erosion, which also contributed to the problem.

Due to this, earth, vegetation and debris are washed into the nearby rivers during heavy rain, causing siltation and pollution.

ATHI VEERANGGAN is malaysiakini 's Penang-based stringer.