RIVER REHABILITATION PROGRAMME IN PASIR GUDANG, JOHOR DARUL TAKZIM

Pasir Gudang is a well-known port city and is also one of the main industrial areas in Johor Bahru district. The rapid development in Pasir Gudang, particularly over the last decade, has led to major landuse changes in the river regimes within their river basins. Serious water quality deterioration and pollution, riverbank erosion and seawater intrusion have caused not only environmental concerns but also repercussions on the socio-economy of the area.

The Local Authority of Pasir Gudang (Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan Pasir Gudang, PBTPG) realising the above situation plans to implement a river rehabilitation programme in the areas under its jurisdiction focussing on three main components, namely, river water quality rehabilitation, hydraulic profiling and ecological characterisation and rehabilitation. There are in total eleven (11) main rivers within the PBTPG administrative area which are earmarked for study for the formulation of a River Rehabilitation Programme in the area under its jurisdiction. The ten prominent rivers are:

(1)   Sg Masai

(2)   Sg Perembi

(3)   Sg Buluh

(4)   Sg Tukang Batu

(5)   Sg Latoh

(6)   Sg Kim Kim

(7)   Sg Kopok

(8)   Sg Kong Kong

(9)   Sg Tiga

(10) Sg Selangkah

Based on a review of the information gathered and the environmental management issues identified, a River Rehabilitation Programme has been formulated to rehabilitate the degraded rivers. The River Rehabilitation Programme is basically an action plan to assist the process of planning river rehabilitation activities and to complement the technical advice provided through other governmental and non-governmental mechanisms at the local level, specifically PBTPG, relevant State government agencies and stakeholders having interest in the rehabilitation of the rivers in the Pasir Gudang study area. The action plan is a means of implementing components identified in this study and of any existing river rehabilitation strategy, catchment plan or environmental management programme and detailing how these are to be addressed through on-ground activities on a local scale.