KUANTAN: The bauxite standard operating procedures (SOP) executive review committee will set up a special online complaint site for the public to voice any concern arising from bauxite mining activities here.
Its chairman Azizan Abu Samah said the website would be managed by the water, land and natural resources ministry and the Pahang State Development Corporation to ensure that action would be taken on every report received.
“A monitoring committee comprising local representatives as well as relevant agencies will be established to act on the reports so that the issues could be resolved,” he told reporters after a public hearing on the SOP here today.
The public hearing was attended by more than 500 people comprising academicians, bauxite mining operators and licence holders and settlers from Felda Bukit Goh, Bukit Sagu and RTP Bukit Goh.
Azizan said he was satisfied with the response and feedback received from the participants today.
He said the draft of the SOP would be finalised at the end of the month as further improvements were needed before it could be posted on the ministry’s website.
“We (the committee) will convene another meeting on April 19 and take into account what the public have to say.
“The SOP must be refined from time to time and cannot be static if we do not want a recurrence of the (bauxite pollution) situation,” he said.
Azizan said the 174-page SOP could only be implemented effectively if enforcement was strictly carried out.
“Enforcement is a problem not only for bauxite mining but also in other matters because of our set of values.
“If we comply with the prescribed rules, there will be no pollution problems,” he said.