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Ebara is in the news again, casting
more doubts than building confidence
Press Statement
by
Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew
(Petaling
Jaya, Monday):
In a reply to Malaysiakini, a senior officer in the Kanagawa
Prefectural Government, Shigeharu Take confirmed that Ebara Corporation has
shut down its operation when its incinerator was found contaminating the
Hikiji River with record-levels of dioxin (More than 8,100 times higher than
the permissible level set by the Japanese authorities). He said this was
done followed by a "written advice" from the provincial governor on
improving the treatment methods. He said the plant's operation has been
suspended ever since.
Although Shigeharu Take has been trying to paint a picture that Ebara was
not asked to shut down its incinerator, and has improved its operations
since the mishap, the fact remains unchanged that Ebara is indeed having
problem with its unproven incineration technology.
Ebara and three other companies (Mitshubishi, IHI
and Fujita) were recently sued by the municipal regional government called
Gotenba-Oyama Kouiki-Kumiai because the RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) facility
built jointly
by these four companies in the Shizuoka Prefecture did not run well as
claimed. The regional government has demanded about 7.92 billion yen (about
US$ 66 million) to be refunded by Ebara and the other three companies.
A RDF facility involves some incineration at a relatively low temperature,
after the process of recovering considerable amount of recyclable materials
from the municipal waste. This facility is much better than the "100%
incineration one proposed by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government in
Broga. If Ebara can make such a mistake even in building a RDF facility, how
could the government trust them to design and build the world largest
incinerator with an unproven technology?
The Broga incinerator is said to cost Malaysians a whopping RM 1.5 billion.
Does the incinerator really cost that much of money to design and build? We
have the right to know as taxpayers. After all, all of us are going to foot
the bill, and to pay for the high cost of maintenance and repairs for the
next 21 years (the life span of such incinerator).
Malaysians should also remember that since the 911 catastrophe, no insurance
company is likely to underwrite a project of such humongous value. Who is
going to compensate for the loss in lives or properties in the event of an
explosion or other disasters?
(30/6/2003)
* Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary
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http://dapmalaysia.org