Ministry refutes claims over bauxite mining in Pahang

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry today refuted allegations that it had ignored the bauxite-mining problem in Pahang.

Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the ministry had taken all measures within its jurisdiction in tackling the issue.

"Allegations that the ministry has not done enough to solve the bauxite problem are inaccurate," he said in a statement.

All bauxite mining activities in Pahang were stopped on Jan 15 in accordance with the government imposition of a three-month moratorium on bauxite mining in the state.

All landowners, bauxite operators and lorry drivers have to abide by the temporary suspension order to enable the formulation of an effective standard operating procedure (SOP) to address issues related to bauxite mining in Pahang.

Wan Junaidi said that since the imposition of the moratorium, the ministry had been monitoring the operations through various enforcement agencies in coordination with the Pahang land and mines director and Pahang minerals and geosciences department director.

He said about 400 officers and personnel from the General Operations Force, Royal Police Malaysia, Police Mobile Unit, Road Transport Department, Land Public Transport Commission and People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) were in the joint enforcement team.

Wan Junaidi said eight monitoring stations or checkpoints had been established, at Kg Padang, Tanjung Pasir, Bukit Kuantan, MMEA (Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency), Sungai Ular, Bukit Penggorak, Sirim (Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia) and Semambu Water Treatment Plant.

He said the ministry, through the Department of Environment, had conducted several tests on water samples from rivers that were said to had been affected by bauxite to determine the safety level.

He also said that the ministry would organise a workshop from Jan 27 to 29 to review all the rules, procedures and guidelines related to the mining and export of bauxite and propose improvements.

“The review will cover various aspects, including management at the extraction site, transportation, stockpile inside and outside the port areas and procedures involving Approved Permit for the export of bauxite.

“The proposed improvements will be presented to the Federal Government for approval and will be implemented once the term of the moratorium expires,” he said.