By: Zaki Saleh
MANJUNG: The occurrence of a fire at the Teluk Mengkudu disposal site in Segari near here has raised concerns due to the thick smoke billowing from the incident.
The disposal site has been ablaze since last Monday afternoon, believed to be caused by the excessively hot weather.
Firefighters, including volunteers from the Pantai Remis fire brigade, have been deployed to control the fire and extinguish it.
It is understood that the contractor has constructed a 100-meter containment area to prevent the fire from spreading to other waste heaps.
The waste disposal site is managed by the Manjung Municipal Council (MPM).
However, questions have arisen from the local community regarding safety aspects as the disposal site lacks safety features.
Resident Haron Iskandar urges the authorities to conduct monitoring as he is concerned that the smoke from the fire contains hazardous particles.
“The thick smoke from this burning area can be seen for over two kilometres.
“Although the disposal site is far from residential areas, its proximity to the sea is too close,” he said.
Another resident, Mohamad Amin Hassan, wants the Perak State Department of Environment (DOE) to conduct an investigation.
“We want the DOE to investigate open burning activities and enforce Section 34A of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 for violations of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conditions.
“Since the opening of this disposal site, the communities in Segari and Manjung have not known its actual status, but we can see that the waste area is very extensive.
“When fires occur, our concern is the effects of the waste smoke.
“Residents have also raised concerns about pollution from wastewater dumping into the sea,” he said.
In 2019, the Perak government through the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) planned to develop a new waste disposal site project with waste-to-energy (WTE) concepts at the Teluk Mengkudu waste disposal site.
The project, to be implemented by a private company, will utilize the Anaerobic Digester system to produce biogas for electricity generation.
