The issue of solid waste management concession would be finalised next year, said Housing and Local Government Minister Chor Chee Heung.

He said the current interim agreement between the local authorities and the concessionaires was in force from year to year.

The failure to finalise the concession agreement was due to technical problems involving five states including Penang, Perak, Terengganu and Kelantan which had not yet agreed to accept a concessionaire for solid waste management.

"I have made a resolution in line with the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP) that by next year we will reach a decision on the take-over of solid waste management by government-appointed concessionaires," said Chor in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was replying to a supplementary question from Azmi Khalid (Umno-Padang Besar) on the interim period for solid waste management and public cleansing services by the concessionaires, which started in 1996 while the agreement was made in 2007.

Azmi also proposed for the finalised concession agreement to only include recycling services, following costly garbage collection carried out by the local authorities.

Chor said the landfill system would continue to be used for another two or three years before the government could implement a proper solid waste management system adopting new technology.

"The government realises that the landfill system is outdated and it will focus on coming up with a new system that is more advanced," he said.

In response to Azmi's original question, Chor said under the interim concept, the concessionaires could take over services carried out by the local authorities, whereby the concessionaires would be paid the same as the expenditure of local authorities 10 years ago.

"Besides that, concessionaires face the problem of receiving payments within the fixed period from most local authorities, in addition to the difficulty of obtaining loans from financial institutions due to the interim period.

"The problems will be solved when full privatisation is implemented, whereby companies will receive new financial injections, besides being able to use the concession agreement as collateral for loans.

"This is especially for acquiring assets, including new vehicles, to ensure more efficient and organised solid waste management," he said.

- Bernama