GEORGE TOWN – Penang MCA has urged the DAP-led state government not to be driven by the perception that all environmental issues involve politics, as the consequences of climate change and pollution affects everyone in the state.
MCA Public Services and Complaints deputy head Francis Goh said the party wants to cooperate with all quarters including the state government in finding the right solutions to a host of issues, from waste management to pollution.
“If it rains, everybody without protection gets wet. We need to work together.”
He told a press conference here that the party has been receiving complaints about the proposed rehabilitation of the Jelutong landfill near the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway.
Goh said the site may be littered with toxins and hazardous material after it was the mainstay for waste collection for the past 40 years.
However, since 2018, it is believed that the dumpsite was no longer in use for municipal solid waste, except for discarded material from the construction industry.
Goh said that MCA plans to work with the civil society movements in Penang to address the concerns over the rehabilitation of the site.
“It is a case of opposing projects because we are the opposition. It is about protecting the environment and we need more details from the state on this.”
The state could offer more transparency over the project, he added.
Earlier, some 10,000 residents expressed concern over the possible redevelopment of the landfill as it may lead to the exposure of the toxins and degradable materials buried inside.
Goh claimed that a few residents’ associations have approached him over the issue.
Last February, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow announced that the landfill would undergo a RM1 billion rehabilitation and redevelopment process with the signing of a joint development agreement between Penang Development Corporation and PLB Engineering Bhd.
This 15-year project would mark the first landfill in the country to be rehabilitated and redeveloped. – The Vibes, July 2, 2022
