Vivian having a meeting with the Department of Environment.
SANDAKAN: Member of Parliament, Vivian Wong said the existing dumpsite located near Mile 8, Jalan Lintas Sibuga here has failed to comply with the required environmental regulations and is posing a serious health hazard to the people of Sandakan.
Vivian said this as her office has been flooded with numerous complaints from residents at Mile 6 and 7 here, especially from those who live in Taman Mawar and Taman Sibuga, about frequent unbearable pungent smells that engulfed their housing estates.
A recent meeting between her office and the District Department of Environment also revealed the shocking fact that the existing dump site has been operating without complying with the environmental rules and regulations.
“This is the only dumpsite in Sandakan, where an estimated 400 to 450 tons of rubbish and solid waste are sent on a daily basis by Majlis Perbandaran Sandakan (MPS). But apparently it has not been properly operated or managed as a proper landfill facility found in other parts of Malaysia.
“No leachate treatment. No landfill gas treatment. Rubbish is simply being sent to the location and slowly being piled up to be a man-made mountain,” said Vivian.
Vivian in her statement yesterday said it is unimaginable that the second largest city in Sabah, was not only without a proper solid waste disposal facility, but worse, with an existing dumpsite located next to a river, with a large part of it a swampy land with no proper road access, and located a mere 300 metres from the nearest housing estate.
She said it was a health and safety time bomb, especially so during this pandemic period and this is simply not acceptable.
“What is the point of spending so much money and resources to fight the current pandemic when we have a huge bio-hazard sitting right in our own backyard? I pray hard that we will not be the epicentre for a public health disaster in the near future.
“Providing a safe, clean and healthy living environment for the rakyat is the fundamental responsibility of any government.
“Hence, I strongly urge the Minister of Local Government and Housing as well as MPS, as the authority in charge of this matter, to take immediate action to overcome this serious public health and environmental infringement brought up by our current dumpsite. Any further delay on this matter will clearly demonstrate a lack of duty of care by the local government,” she added.
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