KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): The first phase of the government's River of Life project, which aims to improve the water quality of the Klang and Gombak rivers, is now 81% completed, and will be fully completed by 2020, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on his website yesterday.

Najib had yesterday officiated at the launch of Phase 1 of the River of Life as well as the Blue Pond project, which is being developed by Ekovest's unit, EkoRiver Construction Sdn Bhd.

The initiative falls under the purview of the project River of Life, a project under the Economic Transformation Programme aimed at transforming Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang into a "dynamic and empowered" waterfont icon through three main components namely river cleaning, river beautification and land development.

On his website najibrazak.com yesterday, Najib said through this project, the government has implemented various river rebuilding initiatives such as upgrading of sewerage systems, adding garbage traps along the river and introducing an interceptor system.

Additionally, Najib said accessibility to the Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque next to the river was also enhanced by the construction of a pedestrian bridge connecting the mosque with the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and Dataran Merdeka, shortening travel time from existing routes by up to 50%.

The Blue Pond project, which features a blue water fountain, was additionally added on to enhance the attractiveness of the river.

"It is my hope that through this project, the area around the river will be listed as a tourist attraction comparable to cities like Melbourne, Seoul and Singapore which have an iconic and attractive waterfront," said Najib.

"However, I would like to remind you that all of these efforts will be useless if we still practise negative attitudes in river conservation, for example making the river like a landfill. I urge all Malaysians to help keep the river clean and beautiful for our well-being," he added.

The River of Life comprises three stages: river cleaning and river beautification which is targeted to be completed by 2020, as well as commercialisation and tourism which is to commence from 2020 onwards.