The Housing and Local Government Ministry has not answered adequately queries in the Dewan Rakyat about the proposed RM1.5 billion thermal incinerator plant in Kampung Bohol, Puchong.

Revealing this recently, DAP member of Parliament for Seputeh Teresa Kok ( photo ) said earlier this month, she had raised in Parliament some questions regarding the project.

Instead of responding to her questions, she said, Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui chose to sidestep her queries on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

"He said there was no need for him to address the EIA-related questions since the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry had already approved the report.

"It is pertinent that those questions be answered since a close examination of the report would reveal many glaring inconsistencies and flaws," she said following a talk organised by the Puchong residents action committee in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday.

Kok, whose home is located in the affected area, said she was also disappointed with Chin's failure to answer other questions raised about the incinerator's high operating cost, technology transfer and the health risks involved.

She said no one was able to answer her queries on the operational cost of the plant estimated to be about RM270 per tonne daily. The current municipal solid waste management via landfill only costs between RM25 and RM35 per tonne, she said.

Assessment rate

"This will only mean that the assessment rate is going to be hiked up much, much more. So, isn't this 10 times more than the current cost?

"I'd also like to ask whether our quit rent will be increased after the incinerator is built?"

Kok urged the government to seriously consider the residents' protest and relocate the plant to a safer site instead of in the middle of a densely-populated area.

"The government has also claimed that the incinerator is safe and poses no health hazard. If it is as safe as it is made out to be, does the government dare to relocate it to Putrajaya?

"If anyone should be subjected to such a risky experiment, it is the very people in power who have been trying to convince us that the incinerator is safe."

The proposed plant has a maximum capacity of 1,500 tonnes of waste per day, but there is speculation that the government may scale it down to about 600 tonnes per day.

Kok suggested that the incinerator be relocated to Putrajaya so that the prime minister, cabinet members and government servants who work and live there can become "guinea pigs" to prove to the nation that the incinerator is truly safe and will not cause cancer to those staying near it.

Referring to a copy of an excerpt from Parliament's Hansard of the Oct 9 proceedings, she said Chin reiterated that the government had exercised due care by employing a panel of technical experts to study the proposal of the project.

In response to Kok's claims that many incinerators have been shut down in the West and Japan, Chin said that those plants were built before 1990 when the technology did not incorporate dioxin management.

Selective study

Kok also alleged in the Dewan Rakyat that the EIA consultants had tailored their study to facilitate the approval so that the government could proceed with the construction of the incinerator.

"In fact, the requirement for a social impact assessment under the EIA must be done within 10km and involves taking samples of earth to study the life cycle, none of which had been done."

On the high construction cost raised by Kok, Chin said the project was more expensive as it uses the latest technology to ensure that dioxin pollution or other noxious gases would not be a problem.

"With the incinerator, I feel that city folk will feel more comfortable because all the garbage from Kuala Lumpur will be fed to it, hence the need to locate the plant where garbage can be treated immediately instead of transporting them elsewhere.

"We are confident that with this project, there will be no adverse effects to the residents of Kampung Bohol."

Toxic dump

Chin cited the Tanah Merah toxic waste treatment plant in Bukit Nanas, Negeri Sembilan, built about seven years ago, as an example that met similar 'not-in-my-backyard-syndrome' opposition.

"If you visit the area now, there are housing estates all around it. The people are not facing any problems, no complaints of pollution or illness. In fact, the plant had facilitated the construction of better and bigger roads and improved infrastructure.

"I'm sure the Kampung Bohol folks will also feel the same way once the plant is operational."

However, at the Sunday talk, the Puchong residents pro tem action committee had refuted Chin's claims by pointing out that there have not been any available data on the emission type and level, or operational aspects of the plant till today.