JOHOR BARU: The on-going multi-billion ringgit project to rehabilitate and rejuvanate Sungai Segget into the new 1.2km waterway in Johor Baru city centre is progressing as scheduled, according to Iskandar Malaysia Regional Development Authority chief executive officer Datuk Ismail Ibrahim.

Dubbed as the “Gem of Johor Baru City”, it is also a new tourist attraction which is poised to transform the city into a vibrant place within the next five to seven years.

The opening up and cleaning of Sungai Segget was an ambitious plan to transform the city centre, Ismail said adding that the “RM270mil is part of the RM1.8bil allocation by the Federal Government to be utilised for the rehabilitation and rejuvenation work of the river including its beautification.”

Works on the river will start either in the third or fourth-quarter of the year including landscaping its surrounding.

Ismail said Johor Baru denizens could look forward to a “new Sungai Segget” which would be transformed and fully-functional by the end of 2017.

He said phase one of the work involved the construction of centralise sewerage treatment plan to enhance water quality through reducing pollutant loads to Straits of Tebrau.

“It is vital to transform the Johor Baru city centre in tandem with its position as one of the five flagship development zones in Iskandar Malaysia,” added Ismail.