IN two years' time, city folk will be able to unwind at a  riverfront esplanade along the Klang river in the Masjid Jamek area, after a hard day's work. 

Aecom urban planning design senior associate director Rahul Mittal said  work to beautify the Masjid Jamek area under the River of Life (ROL) project had already begun.

He said once the project had been completed, city folk would be able to  chill out at  sidewalk cafes and galleries, and enjoy water activities such as boating and canoeing.

"The idea behind the project is to not only beautify the river, but also to turn the area into a place for city folk to head for to relax," he said at the Aecom Smart Cities Symposium.

Rahul said  Precint 7 (Masjid Jamek area) was one of the 11 precincts under the 10.7km  ROL project, which would be developed into a riverfront esplanade.

The other precincts  are Titiwangsa, Pekeliling, Putra World Trade Centre, the Sime Darby loop, Dang Wangi, Raja Laut, Masjid Jamek, KL Railway Station, Brickfields, KL Sentral and Seputeh.

Besides transforming the area into a recreational hub, Rahul  said they were also looking into enhancing the safety and security.

"We will put up  lighthouses along the river which can  house galleries, information centres and police beat bases," he said.  

Rahul  said the rehabilitation of the river would be done in stages and would take up to 10 years to  complete.

"There are 42 agencies involved in the river rehabilitation project.

"The river water quality will be rehabilitated to class IIb, suitable for body contact and recreation, from the current classes III to  V which are not suitable for body contact," he said.

Aecom associate principal and landscape architecture design director Jason Zlotkowski said  there would  be many activities in the area.

"We want to have cultural shows, concerts, sculptures and create a heritage trail."

Zlotkowski said  they were also working on how to  blend the  heritage buildings with the new developments.

"The heritage buildings along the riverfront will be retained. We are looking at refurbishing the surrounding buildings and maintaining the heritage decor,"  said Zlotkowski.

He added that   the key focus was to get  city folk to go to the area to enjoy its attractions.

"We want to bring people to the riverfront area.

"We want to make the area accessible so that  they can  cycle from Brickfields to Masjid Jamek. These things are  in our master plan. We hope to achieve all this by the stipulated date," he said.  

ROL, which was launched last year, is an entry point project under the Greater KL/Klang Valley New Key Economic Areas.

The  project is aimed at revitalising the Klang and Gombak rivers into vibrant and livable waterfronts with high economic value.