Department of Environment & Natural Resources and Environment Board Investigation Rubbishes Claims of Clinker Plant Causing Pollution

Kuching, Sarawak – December 18, 2012 – Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad (CMSB) the State’s largest infrastructure and development corporation, today welcomed representatives from Department Of Environment (DOE) and Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) to their Mambong Clinker Plant. The visit by the two agencies comes as a follow-up to allegations by Wanita PKR vice-president Voon Shiak Ni, of air and water pollution discharge at the plant.

Dato Richard Curtis, Group Managing Director, Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad said, “A full check of the facilities of the Mambong Clinker Plant was conducted by the DOE on November 28, 2012, and again today. In both instance their report found that no emissions were in breach of international standards or the company’s ISO14001. NREB’s Post Environmental Impact Assessments (PEIA) are carried out on a quarterly basis by a 3rd party DOE approved consultant. The PEIA reports have been submitted to DOE-SWK & NREB on a quarterly basis without fail and so far, neither NREB nor DOE have any negative feedback on the plant.”

It is hard to imagine that the clinker plant could have breached emission policies since it has not been in production for over nine months due to the upgrading of facilities. Furthermore the plant’s drainage system only processes rain water while the water used for cooling the plant equipment are circulated handled and processed by a closed circuit piping system.

“We operate all of our businesses at the highest levels possible and allegations such as this diminish the efforts of all our employees to protect the environment. This particular plant not only complies to DOE levels, it produces less than half the level of emissions that the DOE targets.”