The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) wants the auditor-general to conduct a second audit on four controversial incinerator projects.

This is because there has been no government action on the incinerators at the Pangkor, Tioman and Langkawi islands and Cameron Highlands which were found to have had elements of mismanagement.

"The PAC sees that there is a need for the auditor-general to conduct another audit of the four incinerator projects," PAC chief Hasan Arifin said in a statement today.

Hasan ( photo ) said the matter was important to the environment as well as the tourism industry.

The PAC under former chairperson Nur Jazlan Mohamad found that the Urban well-being, Housing, and Local Government Ministry had awarded the four incinerator construction projects to XCN Technology Sdn Bhd (XCNT) without due diligence, resulting in delays and inefficiencies.

The committee told the government to take action against several individuals it found responsible for approving the mini-incinerators on the islands without first inspecting the technology used.

The individuals are Housing and Local Governments Ministry secretary-general Arpah Abdul Razak; National Solid Waste Management Department director-general Nadzri Yahya; National Solid Waste Management Technological Evaluation Committee member professor Rozainee Taib of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia; and Malaysian Industry-Government Group of High Technology analyst Sivapalan Katsiravale.

The PAC also urged the government to take action against XCNT which had provided the unproved technology.

However no action was taken, and Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan defended the ministry officials involved, saying they had not acted unilaterally.