SHAH ALAM, 29 Sept: The Member of Parliament for Serdang, Dr Ong Kian Ming, urged Putrajaya to reveal the tender document for the construction of the Waste-to-Energy (WtE) plant in Taman Beringin Kepong, so that the people are convinced that the benefits of the project are equivalent with its value and does not merely profit concessionaires alone.
Kian Ming said that the tender documents for the Private Financing Initiative (PFI) should be opened to the public immediately so that taxpayers can assess the potential cost of the project and its impact on finances and the environment.
“It is very important for the documents to be open because we do not want a repeat of biased concession agreements like we saw in the first generation Independent Power Producers (IPP) contracts and several toll concessionaires that provide exponential profit to concession holders but not for the ordinary citizen,” stressed Kian Ming.
In contrast with the existing waste disposal system, the WtE technology transforms waste from its original form to electric energy or fuel.
Kian Ming said that people would certainly be interested to know what is the form of guarantee for the 1,000 tons of waste per day and the amount of compensation if the waste does not reach the amount, the cost of fly ash disposal that is dangerous and bottom ash, and how municipal solid waste to the WtE plant is managed.
Meanwhile, the Political Studies for Change (KPRU) think tank said that the WtE technology should be explored more aggressively because it is safer than nuclear energy in addition to the increase of solid waste each year.
“According to that statement by the Minister of Urban Wellbeing Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, in April, the amount of solid waste in this country is increasing at a rate of 3.7% on average each year. This situation thus provides an opportunity for the ministry involved to rationalise the construction of incinerators for the disposal of solid waste that is piling up,” he said.
According to KPRU, apart from Taman Beringin, other locations proposed for the construction of WtE plants are at Bukit Payung in Johor and Sungai Udang in Malacca.
NS
