The Star newspaper - Opinion section - Revisiting Jelutong dumpsite (not published)

With reference to the article “Smells like clean spirit; The Star Lifestyle section; 26 May 2009”, I would like to highlight the condition of dumpsites in Penang Island particularly the one along the Jelutong Expressway.

It is an eye opener to see that New Yorkers are making progressive and sure steps to convert the biggest wasteland in the world into a recreational park in 30 years time.

Even our neighbouring country, Singapore has converted their wasteland into a marine/recreational park as highlighted in an article entitled “Dump wonderland; dated 16 May 2009”.

In local scene at Selangor, news entitled “Building paradise from wasteland; dated 4 May 2009” painted a stark picture against the effort done for dumpsite at Jelutong Expressway.

For start, Jelutong dumpsite has been in operation for more than 40 years serving millions of Penang ’s inhabitants but as with everything, there is a limit for a place to take the amount of waste generated by Penangites.

However, it is disheartening to see that instead of cutting down the dumping activities around the over-capacity dumpsite, the state government have decided to revive it into another cash cow by allowing even general public to dump their waste there for a fee as reported in “Fee for dumping; dated 29 April 2009”.

For the record, this dumpsite has far exceeded its capacity and in fact, it has over-extended into the secure region around the sea area, leaking leachate into open sea and harmed the surrounding environment.

On several occasions over the years, especially during dry season, massive fire happened via direct or indirect means too.

This indirectly placed the surrounding area at risk and not to mention the lives of our brave fire fighters called in to quell the fire.

What are the proactive steps taken by MPPP or the state government to address this issue?
Instead of dragging their feet and a whole lot of promises, stern actions must be taken knowing that we are not only harming the environment but human lives as well.

CIPLAK,
Jelutong, Penang.