SIBU: An underground fire at the Seng Ling dumpsite here shows how important it is for local authorities to continue monitoring old dumpsite even though it has been closed.
Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang said studies had shown that even though closed, open landfills still contain and release gases which are harmful to people staying around the area.
“Sibu Municipal Council therefore needs to carefully monitor and maintain the Seng Ling dumpsite for up to at least 30 years after it has been closed since last April,” she said yesterday.
Chang said SMC needed to ensure that the post-closure care was in accordance with recommended guidelines to ensure that the waste did not pollute the surrounding environment.
“Proactive steps need to be taken to ensure that SMC practises post-closure care and that this care and management are effective in the monitoring and should eventually lead up to the final cover system to minimise the infiltration of liquids and soil erosion in the dumpsite and surrounding areas.”
Chang said she had been keeping in touch with the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) to find out the latest status of efforts to douse the underground fire, which occurs yearly and sometimes even as frequent as two or three times a year.
SMC, she said, needed to double its efforts in locating the source of the fire, the cause and solutions.
“After I have done a site inspection this morning, Bomba has been keeping me informed through pictures and videos, which showed that they, together with SMC, are currently digging the area to find the source of the fire. I hope that they can resolve this as soon as possible to prevent the people staying in the neighbourhood from prolonged exposure to smoke,” she said.
On squatters staying around landfills, she said SMC should urge the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to relocate them.
“When the presence of the squatters was first detected in October 2018, we were made to understand in the November 2018 DUN sitting that the state government would look into their relocation.
“Since then, it seems that nothing was done. Instead, the Land and Survey had served a notice on the squatters to vacate the place by April 12, 2019,” she said.
A trench was also dug across the access road to prevent squatters access into the area. But this had obviously not stopped the squatters from continuing to occupy the land while there was still no news of the resettlement of the squatters, she added. She said in May this year, she had again raised the matter in a State Legislative Assembly meeting on the plan to relocate the squatters. However, there was no response from the minister concerned.
“SMC, as the local authority in Sibu, should therefore convince the Minister of Local Government and Housing to do something for these people as I believe that the land used as landfill by SMC all these years is state land,” she said.
