SELANGOR seeks to increase the fine for factories that pollute rivers to between RM500,000 and RM1 million, said Amirudin Shari.

The menteri besar said an amendment to legal enactments under Lembaga Urus Air Selangor will be tabled during the state assembly session that starts next month.

“We will bring it to the assembly at the next sitting. We want to speed it up as much as possible.

“We had already planned to do this, and we are now studying the matter,” he told reporters at the Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd head office in Kuala Lumpur today.

He was asked about stiffer penalties against river polluters to put a stop to water supply cuts in the state.

Water supply to 1.2 million accounts in the Klang Valley has been disrupted since Thursday morning after four treatment plants – Sg Selangor Phases 1, 2 and 3, and Rantau Panjang – were closed following pollution in Sg Selangor.

The plants resumed operations last night for cleaning and flushing works after a massive clean-up of the river, and supply will be restored to consumers in stages.

The factory behind the pollution has been identified as belonging to Yip Chee Seng & Sons Sdn Bhd/AAY Construction Sdn Bhd, servicing and maintaining heavy machinery.

State environment exco Hee Loy Sian two days ago said the factory failed to store used machine oil and diesel properly, allowing the discharge to flow into the river.

He revealed that the facility is a repeat offender, having been fined RM60,000 for a similar offence a few months ago. – September 5, 2020.