Perak DID director Datuk IR Abdul Razak Dahalan (Front, with glove) being shown organisms scooped from the Perak River by Global Environment Centre's River Care programme coordinator Dr K. Kalithasan (Right) while River Ranger participants look on.

KUALA KANGSAR: Housing projects near riverbanks will not be approved by the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) unless the houses face the rivers.

Perak DID director Datuk Ir Abdul Razak Dahalan said this was to prevent rivers from being turned into sewers by members of the public.

“In the planning approval, we will make sure the rivers are at the front of the houses unlike previously where rivers are at the back, enabling rubbish to be dumped indiscriminately,” he said.

He said the move had been adopted nationwide.

“It has been included into planning guidelines. We (the DID) are one of the approving authorities and we will make sure this is complied with,” he told reporters after opening a state-level workshop to train trainers of river rangers yesterday.

On the quality of rivers, he said most rivers around towns in Perak were polluted.

He said the middle span of the Kinta river from Tanjung Rambutan to Tanjung Tualang was very polluted while its upstream was clean.