In fact, he said that was among his ministry’s suggestions to make optimal use of the river water rather than allowing it to just flow into the sea.
“We have this idea to have two neighbouring states to share the LRA so that clean water could be supplied to both states.
In recent times, Penang and Kedah have been at loggerheads over water drawn from the shared Sungai Muda and Penang has said it could consider buying water from Perak, with whom it also shares a border.
“If one LRA can supply clean water to two states, we can definitely save costs. But of course, this needs further discussions at the state level,” Tuan Ibrahim told reporters after attending the launch of the state-level World Water Day by Perak menteri besar Saarani Mohamad at the Amanjaya Convention Centre here today.
The minister said any two neighbouring states can discuss this matter among themselves and the ministry was ready to offer consultation and support needed towards the construction of the LRA to ensure a win-win situation for both sides.
In his speech earlier, Tuan Ibrahim said two of the three project packages for the construction of the Regional Sewage Treatment Plant and Sewerage Pipeline Network in Papan in the Kinta district worth almost RM2 billion are expected to be completed by November this year.
He said the packages include the construction of a 157km sewerage pipeline, 14 pump stations, and one regional sewage treatment plant with a capacity to cater for 1.5 million people.
“Through this project, 277 small-scale LRAs around Ipoh will be closed to inadvertently prevent water pollution due to the discharge of waste water.
“I will propose to the state government to look into potential collaboration with Indah Water Konsortium and the Perak Water Board in implementing joint billing and sustainable water recycling projects for industrial purposes,” he explained.
In another development, Tuan Ibrahim said the Malaysian authorities would order a container ship from the US suspected of trying to illegally bring plastic waste into Malaysia to return to its country of origin once inspections are completed.
“When the ship docks at Port Klang, we will carefully check the condition of the plastic waste in the container.
“We will also inform the competent authority in the US on the import of plastic waste and whether the waste was contaminated with scheduled waste or chemicals, before sending them back to the country of origin,” he said.
Two days ago, Tuan Ibrahim was reported as saying that the Environment Department, the authority in the control of cross-border plastic waste under the Basel Convention which came into effect on Jan 1, 2021, found there were no applications for the import of plastic waste received from the exporting country.
In principle, the Basel Convention allows the movement of hazardous waste across borders only if the exporting country does not have the facilities to properly treat and dispose of it or if hazardous waste is required as a raw material for recovery or recycling in the importing country.