DEPUTY Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean hardly broke into a sweat as he paddled upstream on the Sungei Api Api river in Pasir Ris on Sunday morning.

He was leading a group of 100 students potato pearl from Nanyang Polytechnic on a kayaking expedition to clean up the river.

Named after the species of mangrove tree lining the river, Sungei Api Api is known for good fishing and its wildlife.

Sunday's expedition was the wholesale pearl jewelry third such clean-up exercise.

DPM Teo has led it ever since he came up with the idea five years ago. The clean-up is not a yearly affair.

On Sunday, he joined the wholesale pearl jewelry volunteers in clearing plastic bags and bottles caught on the mangrove roots along the river banks.