British Waterways targets Malaysia

BRITISH WATERWAYS is dipping its toes into foreign waters for the first time, tempted by the Malaysian government's decision to invest about £100m of its petrodollars within the next decade in regenerating rivers flowing through the capital, Kuala Lumpur, as well as towns such as Penang and Melaka.

BW is to form its first overseas joint venture, Prelude Resources, with waste disposal concern Anggun Perkasa, in the hope of catching the tide when it comes to successfully bidding for government waterway regeneration contracts. BW chief executive Dave Fletcher and regional director Derek Cochrane have already signed an initial agreement in Kuala Lumpur in the presence of Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister.

'Regenerating the Melaka river in Malaysia is much the same as regenerating the River Lea in London - only with sunshine and iguanas,' Cochrane said.

It is a remark that may go down as English understatement in KL, for panthers, elephants, tigers, tapir, wild oxen, pigs, hippos, turtles and cobras are just a few of the fauna mooching around in Malaysia's waterways or along their river banks.

Back among the coots and tiddlers of Britain's waterways, BW manages 2,000 miles of rivers, canals, docks and reservoirs, and will be opening 200 miles of restored or new canals. BW is a public corporation, part-funded by the Government and part by commercial activities, usually with commercial partners, in riverside property development, water supply and tourism.

Tin mining, logging and the dumping of rubbish have helped make Malaysia's waterways the mess ours were a century ago. On one estimate, of 121 Malaysian waterways monitored, only one in three rates 'clean'; the rest are either 'very' or 'seriously' polluted.