MELAKA: The state government here wants the Housing and Local Government Ministry to take action against the Sungai Udang sanitary solid waste landfill operator for failing to clean up its act.
State Housing, Local Government, Drainage, Climate Change and Disaster Management Committee senior chairman Datuk Rais Yasin claimed that the operator had been issued several notices and compounds over the past year but has not resolved pollution at the site.
Rais said the operator had claimed that it was due to leachate discharge from the site, adding that the brackish leachate is flowing into a nearby river leading to Sungai Lereh and impacting nearby agricultural activity.
"The operator needs to take full responsibility for the pollution issue as it did not happen once but repeatedly.... warnings, notices and fines have been issued over and over by the authorities.
"We won’t take things lightly... all related agencies such as the Environment Department (DOE) and the state water supply corporate also need to take immediate action and we have written to the ministry for further action,” he told reporters here Monday after opening a local authorities seminar.
Rais said the state government is leaving it to the ministry to determine the necessary action to be taken against the operator but hoped that there would be stiffer penalties as a deterrent to ensure that the repeated pollution would end.
He added that the Sungai Udang sanitary landfill was the only landfill in the state and it needed to be managed properly so that it would not negatively affect the public. - Bernama
