BY THE GREEN DUDE

You can be excused if you are not aware of the existence of such a project , as we have all been overwhelmed by so many political scandals , brickbats and criticisms over both social and mainstream media , an ongoing pastime of Malaysians in this era of digital platforms .

This is all due to the lack of information in mainstream media . Or , is it due to the fact that people have become increasingly cynical about massive abuses , which in this case has cost the government RM4 billion and delayed its completion by almost eight years ?

A quick cycling visit to the Masjid Jamek site on the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers , where part of the River of Life project is located , revealed a few interesting findings .

The Information gallery is already dead and closed , the river water , as expected , is still as dirty as ever , and a tour information centre staffed by a tour operator leaves a lot to be desired .

There are not enough brochures for tourists to pick up . The poster on the River of Life is hung on the highest point of the wall , so you really can ’ t read it at all !

I spoke with a group of tourism students there on a practical assignment . They were totally blurred about the ROL project .

The River of Life project is supposed to be finally completed by this year . The project was given an extension of four years from 2020 , but is still nowhere near that target .

As of July 2023 , eight projects were still in the execution stage , showing progress rates of between 21 and 97.3 per cent .

Furthermore , only 79.4 per cent of the river beautification works were completed , and only 50 out of 296 sewage treatment plants were successfully rationalised or upgraded .

FLAWED BUSINESS MODEL

The main flaw of the project is linked to its business model as it depends very much on government allocation , which resulted in the project ’ s assets being improperly maintained , abandoned , damaged and not fully utilised .

What , then , is the essence of the

Cycling tour .

The gallery for the River of Life is now closed forever .

The iconic Masjid Jamek at the confluence of Klang River and Gombak River .

River of Life project ? It was meant to beautify the 10.7 km corridor of Sungai Klang and Sungai Gombak , but only 8.5 km has been covered .

It had projected returns of RM4 billion from the development of the land surrounding it . But , as of now , only seven out of 59 parcels of land have been sold . Sadly , only one has been developed completely .

There are three major components to the project , which aim to transform eight rivers from their current state into clean rivers located within the Greater Kuala Lumpur Klang Valley region .

Firstly , it ’ s about ‘ River Cleaning ’, which aims to improve river water quality to support recreational activities at a cost of RM3.4 billion .

Secondly , it is about ‘ River Beautification ’ along a 10.7 Km stretch , which was supposed to be completed by 2019 at a cost of RM1 billion .

Thirdly , the ‘ Commercialisation and Tourism ’ aspect is to maximise the economic potential of the Klang and Gombak River fronts , which was to be completed in 2020 and beyond , the cost of which is not yet available .

In early 2019 , the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Agency ( MACC ) started investigations by questioning several DBKL officers on suspicion of being on the take from certain contractors . However , to date , pertinent information on the investigation is not readily available .

LACKING FEASIBILITY STUDIES

It is noted that Ekovest Bhd ’ s wholly-owned subsidiary , EkoRiver Construction , was appointed as the main contractor for three out of five beautification work packages worth about RM489 million .

Ekovest Bhd was appointed without an open tender in 2011 as the project delivery partner ( PDP ) with DBKL . It was tasked with beautifying the area to boost the land price and thereby increase the total value of land transactions .

ROL Information plaque .

All these transfers of government lands and development orders occurred during the tenure of the previous Federal Territory Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor . He was charged and convicted in 2021 , sentenced to jail and fined RM2 million fine for receiving bribes from a property developer .

However , he was acquitted of the charge by the Appeals Court due to ‘ weaknesses in the prosecution ’ s case ’.

According to a comprehensive report and Press release by The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism ( C4 ), this whole state of affairs raises a number of observations .

Among them are the lack of feasibility studies , financial information and accountability , procedural missteps and poor procurement practices , weak project management , tracking and enforcement and a glaring oversight by the project authorities to ensure compliance and timely action to deal with breaches and damages .

As we are all aware , there have been many revelations of weaknesses in government-related companies that have failed to provide efficient services to the public , such as the current Malaysia Airlines fiasco .

Thus , the current minister responsible for the Federal Territories must now take drastic measures to tackle this issue as it has drained massive financial resources and is a waste of taxpayers ’ funds .

Now is the right time for this government to do a comprehensive audit of the entire ROL project . It needs to revise the whole plan to obtain better value for its investments and carry out a cost-benefit analysis to come out with better options and new collaborations with parties that can deliver the results .

This River of Life fiasco must be another priority in the Madani government ’ s crusade to wipe out corruption so that those involved will understand that the law will eventually catch up with them . – @ green

The Green Dude often cycles around the Dataran Merdeka area . He is really perplexed by the waste of resources and the state of the River of Life project as in the Malay proverb – ‘ hidup segan mati tak mahu ’, literally translated as ‘ lazy to live , unwilling to die ’!