The Selangor Land and Minerals Department has agreed not to proceed with a proposed land acquisition to facilitate the construction of a RM1.5 billion giant incinerator plant in Broga, near Semenyih.

The proposal is to acquire land to build an access road leading to the1,500-tonne plant which was originally scheduled for operations in 2007 but which may be delayed due to outstanding legal and administrative issues.

Almost 80 out of a total 277 acres of land belonging to 28 villagers with additional divisions in and around Kampung Broga have been earmarked for acquisition.

The last landowner to be invited for an inquiry by the land administrator is Wong Chen Kim @ Wong Yew Moi, who authorised her daughter Alice Lee (right) to represent her at today's hearing in Shah Alam.

Met at the land office, Lee said the villagers had received similar letters asking them to attend an inquiry on the proposal for land acquisition and to discuss due compensation.

"Even though only a portion of each of our land is proposed for acquisition, it will directly affect our livelihood because we are prohibited from working the remaining piece.

"Furthermore, we are challenging the project itself and related land matters are pending in court," she said.

Unaware of details

"The Hulu Langat land administrator Othman Ismail assured us that they will wait for the court matter to be disposed before proceeding with the issue of acquisition," she added.

Lee's mother has a five-hectare land comprising rubber smallholding and a fruit orchard.

She said today's meeting revealed that the department officials were unaware of the details involving the incinerator project and related land matters.

Othman was unavailable for an immediate comment.

Speaking to reporters later, Broga sub-committee chairperson Dr Zulkefly Mohamed Omar, who accompanied Lee, said they had asked the department to postpone the matter.

"The two matters in court are the main suit seeking to permanently stop the incinerator project which is considered hazardous to public health and the other pertains to land acquisition," he said.

"We asked them to shelve the acquisition until both legal matters, one of which is directly related to land, are sorted out."

A copy of the Selangor gazette notification published on Aug 12, 2004, states that all land and surrounding areas that have been earmarked for the construction of the access road are already gazetted.

The notification was signed by state Land and Minerals Department director Ahmad Termizi Puteh on July 22, 2004.

Strong rumours

Lee also said there were strong rumours about the re-siting of the incinerator plant to a lower area.

"We have been unable to confirm this but we suspect that it is due to the findings of the detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) study."

The report, she said, had recorded that slightly over half of the EIA study area was categorised as "very steep".

"Furthermore, there is good reason to believe that the new area is smack on my mother's land.

"How can the government approve a project in an area which an EIA study has found to be unsuitable for any form of development?" she asked.

"The incinerator site is not only sited on a really steep slope but it is also located in a water catchment area," she added.

If it was true that a new area has been identified, Lee said that would mean another round of EIA study complete with public feedback.

The Broga incinerator issue, a contentious one spanning three years, has raised the ire of locals who remain fiercely opposed to it.

They have sought a court order to compel the project proponent, the Housing and Local Government Ministry, to divulge all details pertaining to the incinerator project particularly the funding source and mechanism.

The government has remained silent over vital information on the project while major local media has maintained a news blackout, prompting a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia.

Local and international anti-incinerator lobbyists have insisted on alternative methods of waste management to prevent the creation of dioxin, a carcinogenic by-product of high-temperature combustion.

Broga villagers have also exhausted all official avenues, including sending appeal letters to then premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and all relevant ministers and agencies.