KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Putrajaya must come clean on why it has allowed delays of up to two-and-a-half years in the construction of four incinerators by one company, an opposition MP said today, as the government mulls a plan to build a 1,000-tonne incinerator facility in the national capital.
DAP’s Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming said construction of the four smaller facilities - taken on by XCN Technology Sdn Bhd (XCNT) - has been delayed by between nine and 33 months, with one of the incinerators yet to be completed despite all four projects awarded to the company in mid-2007.
“The National Auditor Report 2012 (sic) highlighted the fact that all of these projects faced significant delays in construction and operational deadlines. In fact, the Pulau Tioman incinerator had not been completed as of the 6th of May, 2013, a delay of close to 1000 days (and counting)!” he said in a statement, in reference to the Auditor-General’s Report.
Kepong residents and opposition MPs reacted in outrage after finding out about the government’s plan to build a large-scale incinerator in the area as a solution to the city’s growing trash and solid waste problem.
A group of city residents, who call themselves the Kuala Lumpur Against Incinerator action committee, argued that the A-G’s 2012 Report was proof enough that the government is unable to properly manage the technology.
Committee chairman Isaiah Jacob claimed that the technology still spews out between 20 and 30 per cent of toxic materials comprising heavy metals, dioxins and toxic gases out of the solid waste that is processed, leading to documented health hazards as suffered by residents in the United Kingdom and in Japan in areas that were within a five-kilometre radius of an incinerator.
Ong said today that XCNT - which he claimed is majority owned by former Navy chief Tan Sri Abdul Wahab Nawi through Dawn Holdings Sdn Bhd - had no prior experience in building or operating an incinerator when it was awarded the four projects on the Langkawi, Pangkor and Tioman islands and Cameron Highlands.
At the same time, the government approved the use of unproven incinerator technology based on “autogenous burning” in all four projects, which was pushed for by the company’s minority shareholders Clean Earth Technology Sdn Bhd, he added.
“It was an unproven technology when these contracts were given to XCNT and the National Audit Report found that the incinerator in Pangkor was not burning autogenously as it failed to achieve the minimum required 850°C temperature,” the MP said.
Ong urged Urban Well-Being, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan to reveal why the four contracts were awarded to XCNT and why Putrajaya settled on untested technology.
He said the government must also prove that the incinerator operations have not released dioxins to the environment, and also come up with figures to show that operating costs of the four incinerators are not burning through the budget.
Ong also sought an update on the 100-tonne-a-day incinerator project in Labuan, also awarded to XCNT in January this year, and an explanation as to why it was again given to this company despite the long delays in the four earlier projects.
“If the Ministry of Urban Well-Being, Housing and Local Government cannot even oversee the construction and running of 4 small scale incinerators that are below the capacity of 100 tons / day in a cost-effective, timely and transparent manner, what gives the Ministry confidence that it can successfully oversee the construction and running of the proposed 1,000 ton a day incinerator in Taman Beringin in Kepong?” he asked.
