Let Sungai Segget 'rise' again

27 August 2010 , By New Straits Times

PERHAPS the most criticised proposed project under the Iskandar Malaysia Development Corridor is the effort to reopen Sungai Segget, which was covered up five years ago.

This small river, which runs the entire length of downtown Johor Baru, now lies underneath Legaran Segget, or Segget Walk.

The pedestrian walkway, adorned with fountains and greenery, was built at a cost of RM6 million to block the river's infamous stench.

When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak visited Johor Baru in May, he announced an allocation of RM200 million to "reopen" the river and to turn it into a landmark urban renewal project for the state capital.

However, the plan was greeted with less enthusiasm by the people. They question, among others, the rational of spending so much money to build the Segget Walk only to have it uprooted again.

What is unknown to the public is that since the Segget Walk was built to mitigate the river's pollution, the state government had taken efforts to clean up Sungai Segget. The Johor Baru City Council had released a large amount of micro-organisms into the murky river to improve its water quality.

The efforts yielded far more positive results than expected, thus the plans to reopen the river's surface.

Furthermore, the proposed urban renewal project will be modelled after the successful Cheonggyecheon project in Seoul, South Korea.

Cheonggyecheon is a 5.8km creek that flows from west to east through downtown Seoul.

Much like Sungai Segget, the waterway became infamous for its stench, especially following the population boom in Seoul after the end of the Korean War. As it was with Sungai Segget, the creek was covered with a concrete road in the 1950s to block its stench.

When the then mayor of Seoul and current South Korean President Lee Myung-bak initiated a project to restore the stream in July 2003, it was much criticised by the people. The criticisms were similar to those levelled against the proposed plans to reopen Sungai Segget.

Despite the objections, the project was continued. The South Korean government deemed the restoration of Cheonggyecheon vital as it was in line with the move to reintroduce nature to the people of Seoul and to promote an eco-friendly urban design to revitalise the economy of the city.

The stream was opened to the public in September 2005 and lauded as a major success in terms of urban renewal and beautification. The total cost of the project was 386 billion won (about RM899 million).

Some Korean environmental groups still criticise the project for its high costs, claiming it serves merely as a symbol and not truly beneficial to the city's environment.

Nonetheless, ever since its opening, the Cheonggyecheon creek has become a favourite spot with Seoul residents and foreign tourists alike.

It is, therefore, not too presumptious that the plans to once again have Sungai Segget flowing in full force could yield similar results.

The river, indeed, has the potential to return to its glorious past, dating back to 1800 when Temenggong Ibrahim arrived in Johor Baru with his followers and settled down by the riverbank.

It was also where the early Chinese migrants had settled down before they turned the riverine area into an economic hub of the state capital.

The decision to cover up the river due to pollution five years ago may seem like a mistake now. Perhaps it was the only option available to the state government at that time to deal with the problem.

Now, half a decade later and with the advent of new technologies in environmental restoration as well as the lessons gained from the success story of the Cheonggyecheon urban renewal project, it would be a waste not to give Sungai Segget a fresh leash of eco-friendly urban life.