Oily beaches and one 'dead' plant at Johor

New Straits Times 16 Nov 09;

KOTA TINGGI: Sacks and plastic bags full of sludge strewn across the beaches of Pengerang bear testament to dumping by the crew of ships anchored off the coast.

Such a crime against the environment should not have occurred because there is a local sludge processing facility at Teluk Kelok, about 7km from Sungai Rengit town.

Locals, however, said it was not functioning as it should.

Checks revealed that the facility is owned and operated by a company registered as a scheduled waste contractor in the Department of Environment website.

Since the facility was permitted to process sludge from ships, it should have been a hive of activity due to the ships anchored off the coast.

Cases of sludge dumping and illegal tank cleaning by ships in Pengerang are being reported regularly in the media. The latest occurrence was reported by all major dailies yesterday.

Hidden from the main road by craggy, barren hills, the sludge processing facility is unknown to many.

When the New Straits Times went to the facility, the front gate was locked with nobody at the guardhouse.

A long trek through the hills led to the beach and from there, the whole processing plant could be viewed clearly.

There was not even a single person around and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of waves crashing onto the casuarina-lined shore.

Piles of oil-covered sacks lay under a large shed while a tall chimney stood forlornly nearby, with no trace of smoke coming out of it.

There was no activity in the facility and a lone dog sauntered lazily in the afternoon sun between two huge steel tanks, one of which had a large dent on its side.

A Pengerang resident, who wanted to be identified as Ahmad, questioned the function of the facility.

He said it was ironic for the Pengerang people to suffer from sludge dumping activities when there was a processing plant right next to the polluted beaches.

"The signboard leading to the front gate indicates that it is a sludge processing facility and yet, our beaches are badly polluted by the very sludge that the facility is supposed to process," he said.

Another resident, who only wanted to be known as Ramzan, 56, said the authorities should know the best way to use available facilities to prevent sludge contaminating the sea and destroying marine life.

"We just want the pollution to stop. Aren't there special government departments to tackle that?" he asked.

Calls to the telephone numbers listed on the company's signboard went unanswered.