SHAH ALAM, April 1 — The Johor government is in the midst of identifying several areas suitable for the relocation of factories from the Pasir Gudang area, said Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian.
He said this was aimed at preventing a recurrence of last month’s chemical waste pollution in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang as well as to safeguard the environment in the area.
He said it was also because the state government planned to upgrade Pasir Gudang’s status to a city as its population was about to breach the 600,000 mark.
“It’s not suitable for us to give that place (Pasir Gudang) permit to build factories, which may eventually spark a similar incident (like Sungai Kim Kim).
“So, we plan to identify another area, maybe far from Pasir Gudang, that is suitable to be approved if they want to build either small or medium-sized factories there,” he said.
He said this after the winding up speech by Port Dickson MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim titled ‘Institutional Reforms’ at the Rise of the Asian Tiger Convention at Dewan Agung Tuanku Canselor, Universiti Teknologi Mara here today.
Elaborating, Osman said the incident occurred due to manufacturing activities that had taken place in the area for the last 30 years.
“At that time, Pasir Gudang was not as densely developed and the time was right (to set up the factories), but now it’s not suitable anymore. So, we want to relocate them to other places to safeguard the environment.
“Maybe in the Kota Tinggi area or that in Kluang or Simpang Renggam and such,” he added. — Bernama
