By Norrasyidah Arshad
SHAH ALAM, April 12 — Some 1.2 million Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) account holders in the Klang Valley, which includes the industrial sector, would be affected by the construction of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project under the Northern Alignment.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the route would involve the areas in Gombak and Serendah and would pass by the Sungai Selangor and Sungai Langat dams, which are both the main water sources of the state.
“The Sungai Selangor dam supplies water to 60 per cent of households in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, while the remaining is from Sungai Langat.
“If there is water pollution in these dams, it would give a huge impact. This is based on our experience in the development of the MRT (mass rapid transit), LRT (light rail transit) and highways,” Amirudin told the press after launching the SME Digitalisation Matching Grant, here yesterday.
He said even though high technology from developed countries will be used for the ECRL project, the surrounding areas would still be affected.
“This is not a forecast but it is based on experience. All (developments) cause floods, build-ups. If we focus on the southern route, there would be rivers involved but the risk would not be as bad as the Northern Alignment,” he added.
On April 5, the Federal government had announced its approval to reverse Section C of the ECRL alignment from the southern to the northern route, which was previously approved under the former Barisan Nasional administration.
The Northern Alignment would see the ECRL traverse from Mentakab to Port Klang via Bentong, Gombak and Serendah, compared to the Southern Alignment via Negeri Sembilan.
Amirudin had on March 31 said that the state administration had maintained its stance in choosing the Southern Alignment for the ECRL project in the state as opposed to the proposed Northern Alignment.
He said that the preference over the Southern Alignment (HuluLangat-Sepang-Westport) was because it would open more new economic areas and would avoid disruption to water catchment areas around the Selangor River Basin and land acquisition issues.
