Critics want the plan to build the mammoth incinerator project in Broga to be cancelled immediately, as the site is deemed to be more environmentally-sensitive than Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam Agriculture Park in Shah Alam.

Residents in and around Semenyih want Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo to revoke approval for the federal government project in Broga, a backwater township of about 2,000 located adjacent to a forest reserve and water catchment area.

About 30 villagers went to the Selangor secretariat building in Shah Alam this morning to submit a protest memorandum against the project and eventual destruction of the water catchment area. The action was timed to coincide with World Water Day 2005 today.

As Mohd Khir was not at the office, his chief private secretary Mohd Yusof Shafie accepted the memorandum instead.

Before handing it over, Semenyih/Broga No Incinerator pro tem action sub-committee chairperson Dr Zulkefly Mohamad Omar read out the protest at the lobby area which was swarming with security personnel as well as plainclothes and uniformed police personnel.

"We will fight to the end. We will not budge from our stand against this project because there is too much at stake," he said.

Water source

Speaking to reporters later, Zulkefly cited the Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam fiasco - where housing projects on the fringes are said to pose a threat to the park environment - as a comparison to the incinerator project.

He noted that the park was only earmarked for research, whereas the catchment area in Semenyih is a primary source of water for over 300 housing estates in the Klang Valley.

"This area must be given appropriate protection by the Selangor government because the mistake of building an incinerator here would impact negatively on water supply," he said.

"The country's demand for water is expected to increase from 9.5 billion cubic metres in 2002 to 15.3 billion cubic metres by 2010."

He said the state's failure to stop the incinerator project would only invite greater environmental destruction in Selangor and that it would endanger public health and safety as well.

Approached later, Mohd Yusof reluctantly said he could not comment on the matter as it would be sub judice .

"Now it all depends on the court. The court hasn't decided on the matter yet. We will have to wait for that," he said.

On Feb 14, Broga villagers won the first round in the anti-incinerator battle when the Shah Alam High Court granted them an interim stay order prohibiting work at the incinerator project site pending the disposal of a main suit seeking to permanently stop the project.

Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said later the government will apply to strike out the court order. Hearing has been fixed for June 30.

The Broga sub-committee has submitted numerous memoranda to various government and political leaders, including Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The first was submitted on Sept 21 last year while the other was on Feb 12.

On Feb 15, Abdullah's political secretary Dr Vincent Lim sent a letter to Wee Jeck Seng, his counterpart to Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting, for clarification of the objections raised in the memorandum.

Lim was unavailable for comment as he is abroad.