The DAP wants the government to scrap the deal with one of Japan's biggest engineering firms, Ebara Corp, because its bad track record in the incinerator business.

Ebara holds the contract to design and build the controversial 1,500-tonne thermal incinerator plant proposed in Broga, near Semenyih.

Touted as the world's largest plant to use Japan's latest 'zero emission' gasification technology, the project is the first of several planned over the next few years to treat municipal solid waste.

But local anti-incinerator campaigners and opposition parties are firmly opposed to the project on grounds that, among others, it used unproven technology, it breached several government policies and laws, and the environmental and financial costs would be colossal.

Financial trouble

DAP national publicity secretary Ronnie Liu said the company - which is a joint venture partner of Kuala Lumpur-based engineering company Hartasuma Sdn Bhd - was in financial and legal trouble.

He said Housing and Local Government Ong Ka Ting should terminate the deal immediately because Ebara "is not in a good and sound position" for the job.

Quoting from a Nikkei Industrial News report dated April 30, Liu said Ebara had recently retrenched about 400 workers from a total workforce of 1,800 in its engineering division due to poor technology and under-estimation of building costs.

"The company lost about RM885 million (27 billion yen) last year largely due to the failure of gasification-type incinerators," he said, quoting the Nikkei , one of two largest newspapers in Japan.

"The actual cost was found to be very much higher simply because the company could not run the plant smoothly."

Liu said the same report stated that Ebara had spent RM215 million (6.8 billion yen) to fix plants built in 2002, exceeding its original building cost projection by RM500 million (17 billion yen).

"Those who watched the 'Japan Today' programme on Astro TV would know that the Japanese are now calling for their government to close down all incinerators due to serious environmental problems," he added.

Ebara has not responded to questions e-mailed by malaysiakini on the above claims almost two weeks ago.

Giving bribes

Quoting a March report in the Mainichi Shimbun , Liu said Ebara failed to declare an income of almost RM50 million (1.5 billion yen) between 1999 and 2001, which led the tax department to demand a payment of RM16 million (500 million yen).

He said the report noted that the company had given out bribes to a contractor for about RM6 million (200 million yen).

"With all these reports, how can the Malaysian government hire Ebara in the first place? Didn't the government officials know the background of the company before awarding such a huge contract?"

Several other news reports in the Japanese media over the last few years also showed Ebara in a poor light.

A Japan Times online report dated March 28, 2000, recorded how the plant operated by the company had discharged effluents containing record levels of dioxin and other toxic materials into a river for seven years since the early 1990s.

The report said samples taken from the river revealed dioxin levels 8,100 times higher than that of Japan's latest national environmental standard.

The disaster reportedly happened when unprocessed water used in the incinerator plant operated by Ebara was accidentally flushed direct into the stream that feeds into the Hikichi river.

Shutdown order

Subsequent media reports also showed how this led to widespread concern among government officials and local residents, including fishermen.

Japan's Environment Agency subsequently took Ebara to task for the mishap, prompting the provincial government to order a shutdown.

In another Japan Times online report dated April 24 last year, Ebara was again in the spotlight when a Tokyo-based consulting firm executive was accused of receiving millions of yen in kickbacks from a dozen of companies including Ebara.

The executive, who was charged in court for allegedly evading millions of yen in taxes, had also been indicted for bribery, the report stated.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry could not be reached for comments.