The government will choose the 'right time' to announce whether the RM1.5 billion incinerator project in Broga, Selangor has been called off , said a high ranking ministry official today.

"It's not that we don't want to announce, we will announce when the right time comes. Just be a bit patient," said local government department adviser Fong Tian Yong ( second from left ).

"All these factors (the protest by Broga residents) have been taken into account and you have affected certain decisions," he told a group of Broga residents during a 20-minute meeting, giving a strong hint that the RM1.5 billion project had been be scrapped.

The meeting took place at the Housing and Local Government Ministry in Kuala Lumpur. Fong's department falls under the ministry.

Also present was the ministry's public relations department head Razali Kidam.

The Broga No Incinerator committee head Zulkefly Omar - who led the five-member delegation - asked why the government appeared hesitant in making an official statement.

"It has been almost a week that news on the cancellation came out but the government doesn't want to announce, it's not an efficient government," he said.

"Why take such a long time to announce? We are the residents there and we have the right to know the actual status of the project," he stressed.

Responding, Fong said he was in the dark as to how Singapore's Business Times , which first broke the news on the cancellation, had obtained the information.

In asking the residents to be patient, he said: "It (the decision) is in your favour now."

Fong said he will convey the residents' concern to minister Ong Ka Ting, whom the residents have tried in vain to meet.

Elusive minister

Resident Alice Lee said she was disappointed that Ong had refused to meet them, despite numerous attempts, since they launched their anti-incinerator campaign four years ago.

Another irate resident Gan Hin Lee told Fong in Chinese: "We are not ghosts or tigers, why be afraid of us? Ask your 'big brother' (Ong) to meet us."

Ong, who is also MCA president, has been avoiding the media since news of the cancellation broke.

On Wednesday, he was scheduled to have a press conference at his ministry on another matter but it was called off at the last minute.

Yesterday, reporters were also barred from covering a book launch which was attended by the minister.

Meanwhile, Zulkefly said he was disappointed with the minister's ( left )attitude.

"This falls under his jurisdiction, who else is in a better position than him to make the announcement? An announcement will clear all the confusion," he stressed.

On Tuesday, malaysiakini quoted a ministry official, who declined to be named, confirming that a termination notice had been served to the incinerator project's contractors.

The official said a compensation claim from the contractors was filed subsequently and both events took place "quite recently".

Business Times had also reported that the consortium comprising Japan's Ebara Corp and local partner Hartasuma Sdn Bhd had filed a claim for compensation amounting to RM500 million.

However, a Hartasuma official denied the news and said the company was kept in the dark. Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Khir Toyo was also unaware of the cancellation.

Serious threat

The mammoth project - one of the region's biggest incinerator - was relocated to Broga in November 2002 after residents in Puchong mounted a massive protest campaign including a threat to swing their votes in favour of the opposition.

That relocation decision dramatically changed the lives of Lee and more than 200 of her fellow Broga villagers who have persistently protested the project on grounds that it posed a serious threat to public health, the environment and their livelihood.

They also challenged the merits of the proposed technology from Japan, a country which holds the world record for having the most number of industrial and municipal solid waste incinerators.

A suit filed on Nov 8, 2003, seeking a court order for full disclosure of the project's details is pending trial at the Shah Alam High Court.