KUANTAN, Aug 24 — Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said today that there are no tributaries in Bukit Ketam, which has been named as the site for the construction of a permanent disposal facility (PDF) for rare earth mining company Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd (Lynas).
He said the decision to choose Bukit Ketam as the site was made by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB), an agency under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
“It’s an agency with expertise on this matter. The State Secretary (Datuk Seri Sallehuddin Ishak) and I have visited the site which was said to have tributaries. But when we were there, we did not find any.
“In fact, Lanchang (Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin) and Benta (Datuk Seri Mohd Soffi Abd Razak) state assemblymen also visited the site and found that it’s not true as claimed,” he said.
Wan Rosdy said this at the Pahang State Legislative Assembly sitting at Wisma Sri Pahang here today when replying to a question by Lee Chean Chung (PH-Semambu), who asked if an in-depth study had been conducted before picking Bukit Ketam.
Lee said the study was necessary as there were claims that the location was a water catchment area and there were fears that the construction of the PDF would prove risky for about 600,000 water users in Kuantan.
The construction of the PDF for water leach purification (WLP) residue was among the conditions set for the extension of the Lynas operating licence as announced by the AELB last year and it was understood that it would be built on a 12-hectare site in Bukit Ketam.
However, the decision on the construction of the PDF has not been finalised yet as it was dependent upon the Radiological Impact Assessment (RIA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports. — Bernama
