Drop the RM1.5 billion Broga
incinerator to safeguard national interest and the health of the
people
Media Statement
by Ronnie
Liu Tian Khiew
(Petaling Jaya, Tuesday):
Deputy Minister of Housing and Local
Government Datuk Robert Lau said that the final EIA report for the RM1.5
billion Broga incinerator will be out in a few months. He also argued that
the country needs to look for such alternative before there’s shortage of
land for landfill for solid waste.
There’s nothing new in his argument if
we compare his with earlier statements by Ong Ka Ting and M.Kayveas. No one
ever says that the country does not need to look for better alternatives for
the management of solid waste, which has exceeded the 10,000 tons per day
mark for some time now. In fact, we have proposed the zero waste management
method, which was proven viable and effective in many European countries, as
a better alternative than the conventional landfill method to the Ministry
of Housing and Local Government and Ministry of Environment, Science and
Technology more than a year ago.
The DAP has also outlined the
weaknesses and flaws of the EIA report done on the Broga project to the
Environmental Department in Putrajaya but sad to disclose that we have yet
to receive any reply or response from the department. Alternatively, the DoE
should conduct public hearings or consultative dialogues with the residents
and other complainants who put in their protests before approving the EIA
report.
DAP reiterates our strong objection to
the Broga incinerator project for both safety and cost reasons. There’s no
way the government could guarantee that the so-called world’s largest
incinerator to be constructed in the Semenyih water catchments area would be
safe. As a matter of fact, the government would be hard-pressed to find an
insurer in the world to underwrite a policy for such a massive and
potentially dangerous project.
And economically, there’s no way we
can sustain such an expensive method of waste management, bearing in mind
that this proposed RM1.5 billion incinerator could only process no more than
2,000 tons a day, and the authority needs another 40 to 50 million ringgit
for annual maintenance. It’s in the national interest and the safety and
good health of the people that the project must be dropped without any
delay.
(8/6/2004)
* Ronnie Liu
Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary
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