Pahang to decide on bauxite mining by the year end

Putrajaya and the Pahang government will announce a plan for dealing with bauxite mining activities in the state by the end of this month, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said yesterday.

"The state government and the Ministry of the Natural Resources and Environment will make an announcement soon. Do not worry, it will be for the good of the people," he said after attending a function at Indera Mahkota in Kuantan yesterday.

Adnan's administration has been criticised for its slowness in dealing with rampant bauxite mining and the resulting pollution. He told The Star in August that Pahang could not immediately put a stop to the mining out of consideration for those who earned a living from it. He said bauxite mining generated economic activities that had spin-off effects for the state.

PKR's Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh however has been urging Putrajaya to expedite the suspension of bauxite export licences to resolve pollution arising from the mining and transportation of the substance in the port city of Kuantan and surrounding areas. She said the government had agreed with her suggestion as the best way to deal with pollution. Fuziah in early November said water supply from Bukit Saga and Bukit Goh in Kuantan, Pahang, might already be contaminated with heavy metals as a result of bauxite mining in the area.

The PKR lawmaker raised this possibility after seeing evidence of miners washing bauxite upstream.

Widespread mining of bauxite, using to make aluminium, began last year, with most of it being supplied to China. Indiscriminate mining and transportation of the ore from the mines to the port at Kuantan has caused air pollution.

As per recent reports, only 11 mining operators were granted permission to extract bauxite as well as transport and export the mineral in the state after a crackdown by Pahang Authorities.

MAAC to plug loopholes in mining for bauxite

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is looking into plugging loopholes in bauxite mining regulations that has left the industry open to abuse.

Pahang MACC director Datuk Zainul Darus said the commission was preparing two papers on regulating bauxite mining, which it will hand over to the state government by early next year.