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Dear Datuk Seri Dr
Mahathir Mohamad,
DAP Selangor has received numerous complaints from the residents of Broga/Beranang / Semenyih/ Kajang and other parts of Selangor on the proposed
mega incinerator project. The main fear of the residents is that the said
incinerator will not be safe and certainly brings severe damage to their
health, besides causing a serious depreciation in value to their properties
in the effected areas.
More than 10,000 residents from the area have signed in a protest signature
campaign initiated and organised by the residents about two months ago,
soon after the government decided to move the project from Kg Bohol,
Puchong to Broga.
We hereby expresses our strong objection to the proposed Broga incinerator
for the following reasons:
1. No incinerators, regardless technology, size and manufacturer could
be considered absolutely safe in this world. The proposed gassification
fluidised-bed, ash-melting incinerator, which is considered as the latest
technology used in Japan, is of no exception. There is no document or
record to show that this type of incineration is certainly safe and sound.
The biggest incinerator of this kind happens to be a pilot project found in
Japan, with the capacity of burning 300 tonnes a day. The manufacturer of
this pilot incinerator is none other than Ebara Corporation, the same
company awarded with the contract to design and build the largest
incinerator in the world in Broga, with a record capacity of burning up to
1,500 tonne of rubbish a day! Numerous reports have shown that this
technology is not stable and problematic, and it has caused Ebara a lot of
fund to fix the technical problem.
2. The proposed site for the incinerator project sits right in the
precious Semenyih water catchment area. The water supply from the Semenyih
River and other tributaries nearby are currently serving more than 333
residential areas, with a population of about 2 million in the Klang Valley
and Putrajaya (see attached press cutting). Any contamination occurs in the
area will have a far-reaching and serious consequences to the residents and
other Malaysians in general.
3. The cost of the proposed project is said to be more than RM1.5
billion. It is estimated to require another RM50 million every year for
maintenance and repair. But the life span of the incinerator is no more
than 21 years. This exorbitant cost is simply not justifiable compared to
other options and alternatives. It works out to about RM240 to burn just
one tonne of rubbish, compared to only about RM 20 per tonne for the
traditional landfill method. This will definitely push up the quit rents
and other utility bills and causing a big burden to ordinary taxpayers.
This is something we Malaysians can never afford.
4. Ebara Corporation is in dire straits at the moment. The company is
found contaminating the Hikiji River in Furukawa. The discharge of dioxin
(a general name for a cancer-causing toxic agent produced by incineration
of materials containing chlorides) to the river was said to be 8,100 times
higher than the permitted level set by the Japanese authorities. Ebara is
also found evading taxes to the Japanese Government, retrenched or
"de-mobilised" hundreds of staff members and booked for causing damage to
the environment. How could the Ministry of Housing and Local Government
award such an important project to a company of such shoddy record? (see
attached press cuttings from various Japanese media).
5. The entire world is now saying NO to incinerators after realising the
disastrous consequences of this technology. Japan, USA, UK, Belgium, South
Africa, Denmark and many other European countries are closing down their
incinerators largely because of dioxin and other toxic discharge. The
Philippines has even passed a law to ban all construction of incinerators
in their country.
6. The Japanese Government, through its embassy office in Malaysia, has
denied providing the soft loan for the project. It would simply means that
Malaysians have to pay a very interest for the funding of the project. Your
ministry has yet to disclose the source of the funding to date. The
citizens of Malaysia have the right to know who is behind the project
financially since we are the ones who foot the bill eventually.
7. The project, in our opinion, has not only breached the natural law of
justice and the trust of the people to the Government, it has also breached
the following laws of the land, namely the Federal Constitution, the Local
Government Act, the Banking & Financial Institutions Act, the Companies
Act, the Foreign Investment Committee Regulations, the Town & Planning Act,
and the Environment Control Act.
I hereby calls on Datuk Seri to instruct the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government and other relevant government authorities to terminate the
contract given to Ebara Corporation, Japan immediately in order to
safeguard the interest of the residents in Broga/ Beranang/ Semenyih/
Kajang and other Malaysians in general.
It's time for the Malaysian Government to adopt the zero-waste management
method used by other developed countries to resolve the ever-increasing
piles of rubbish. DAP is always ready and willing to work with the
Government to find a better solution for waste management in the country.
" Berkhidmat untuk rakyat dan negara"
Sincerely yours,
Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew
DAP national publicity secretary
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