The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the controversial multi-billion ringgit incinerator project proposed in Broga, near Semenyih, is still under review by the Department of Environment (DOE).

This clarifies the statement by Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding on Tuesday that the EIA had been approved as it "complied with regulations".

Contacted today, sources in the department said the minister's remarks could be due to misreporting.

But they felt it was not a tacit approval or endorsement of the EIA for the RM1.5 billion project.

The 1,500-tonne thermal solid waste treatment plant, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world using the latest, but unproven, zero emission technology, will be designed and built by Japan's Ebara Corporation.

Sources said the department's technical panel was waiting for feedback from the project implementor - the Housing and Local Government Ministry - on the comments submitted by Broga residents, non-governmental organisations and political parties.

More information

"The EIA report has not been approved. We are now gathering more information from the project proponent who has been asked to address the public comments before the panel can review the report prepared by the consultant," sources from DOE said.

"The technical panel has so far met once since mid-October, upon expiry of the deadline for public comments. The next meeting will be after we receive comments from the ministry."

However, the sources were unable to give a time-frame because the review rested on the feedback given after the ministry has addressed the public concerns through its consultant Perunding Utama Sdn Bhd.

"It all depends on the quality of ministry's comments. It will take longer if the panel requests for more information.

"Normally, the technical panel will go ahead and approve the report if the comments are complete," they said, adding that the comments were expected within three weeks.

"Let's just say we can expect something only after the Hari Raya holidays."

Local residents, led by the Semenyih/Broga No Incinerator protem action committee, have held peaceful protests, lodged numerous police reports and sent a string of letters appealing to the government to scrap the project but to no avail.

The EIA study itself has been criticised by international scientists as lacking the depth crucial for a project of this magnitude.

Similarly, official 'guarantees' over the safety of the plant and technology have also come under fire following the most recent research findings in Europe which establishes a link between incinerator emissions and public health, especially the risk implications on infants, young children, pregnant women and the elderly.

Lawsuit filed

Last week, a group of Broga residents filed a suit against the government seeking to stop the project and reveal the truth about the proposal.

Their repeated pleas to the government for a dialogue ever since the project was relocated from Kampung Bohol, within Kuala Lumpur's suburbs, has fallen on deaf ears.

The thorny issue, which continues to suffer a blackout in the local print and broadcast media, prompted regional and international civil society groups and individuals to submit a global petition to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad in early October.