KUANTAN: People’s Movement to Stop Bauxite Pollution (Geram) has demanded for transparency on findings pertaining contamination and pollution caused by bauxite mining activities in the state.
Its chairman Ali Akhbar Othman said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and state government should reveal the findings, which they publicly said had been carried out, to the public.
“They should make the results (from the lab test) available for the public to see and not by simply saying that all were under permissible level or the situation is getting better.
“The public has the right to know the current pollution level as well as the results of the findings,” he said when contacted recently.
On Tuesday, the ministry’s deputy minister Datuk Hamim Samuri, while answering a question by Senator Hoh Khai Mun at the Dewan Negara, said pollution level at Kuantan Port had reduced.
Ali Akhbar said Hamim’s answer confirmed that pollution does occur therefore more tests should be made at other places where bauxite-mining activities are being carried out heavily.
“Similar test should be carried out to rivers near Bukit Goh and Bukit Sagu too because according to experts, prolonged exposure to polluted water and red dust from bauxite mining can increase the developing of cancer.”
Hamim had also said samplings done on fish and shellfish by the Fishery Department between August and September had shown it was free from contaminations according to the Food Regulations 1985.
Kuantan Port Consortium (KPC) Sdn Bhd, when contacted, has pledged to reduce pollution and improve cleanliness at the port from bauxite dust by 80 per cent by middle of next year.
KPC chief operating officer Datuk Khasbullah A. Kadir said at present the cleanliness at the port was at 40 per cent and the consortium is putting its best to achieve the target.
“We are doing the best for the environment especially minimising the spillage on the road and sea,” he said.
In October, KPC allocated an estimated of RM30 million to reduce pollution from bauxite dust under its cleaning programmes which included acquiring new cleaning facilities and installation of windbreaker panel.
In August, the NST Special Probes Team reported a series of articles highlighting the issue of environmental deterioration and toxic contamination of water from bauxite residue.
Independent laboratory tests, commissioned by the NST had shown that the water samples contain high levels of heavy metals and traces of radioactive, which hazardous to humans.