SHAH ALAM, 25 Nov: The Klang River conservation and development project will be fully funded by private companies through the Public/Private Partnership (PPP).
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that so far, the three companies that have been shortlisted are TSS-MAKO Engineering Sdn Bhd, Wessex Water Sdn Bhd/I Berhad Consortium and GJA Engineering & Construction Sdn Bhd.
Abdul Khalid said that the company should submit a property development proposal by considering the state government as a return from the project.
“This project will be fully funded by private companies appointed to defray the cost of conservation and river cleaning. In return, they will advance property development adequately,” he said.
Abdul Khalid (PKR-Port Klang) said this in response to a question by Dr Yaakob Sapari (PKR-Kota Anggerik) at the Selangor State Assembly (DNS) today.
He said that the state government is studying the possibility of the conservation and cleaning of the Klang River, which will focus on three key areas which are; conservation and development of raw water channelling, flash flood control and river redevelopment.
In relation to that, Abdul Khalid said that the State Government Council Members (MMKN) will decide to appoint Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad (KDEB) to manage the companies involved in this project.
“The Exco agreed to appoint KDEB as the company which will call anyone interested to participate in this programme. Many are interested but I worry it is only to get this project, but have no financial power to implement it. Therefore, it will take time and opportunity to implement this very large project,” he said.
At the same time, Abdul Khalid said that the state government is gazetting the Klang riverfront and each development must receive approval to focus on efforts to conserve the river.
“We have given notice and it will be taken by the government. In addition, a compensation will be given if we need this land,” he said when answering a supplementary question from Lau Weng San (DAP-Kampung Tunku).