By Ashwin Kumar
SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — The Selangor administration has plans of its own to be in control over the state’s solid waste and public cleansing management due to the challenges it faces in managing a highly populated state.
Despite the Federal government’s efforts to get several remaining states to enforce the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672), which took effect in 2016, the state government has formulated its own enactment that would cater to the Selangor populace.
State Local Government, Public Transport and New Village Development Committee chairman Ng Sze Han said Selangor also has its own concessionaire, KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd (KDEBWM), as the Project Management Company (PMC) to collect rubbish and manage waste.
“Selangor is quite a unique state or in other words, different from other states. We are facing bigger challenges compared to other states.
“We have all types of industries and businesses here. The density of Selangor population is also much bigger than other states… So, we want to have full enforcement when it comes to solid waste management.
“We have already appointed KDEBWM as our PMC, which would make it difficult for us to comply with Act 672,” he told Selangor Journal in an interview, yesterday.
Ng said the move to enforce its own enactment is the best way to ensure Selangor is clean due to the existing effective solid waste management system in place.
“We have to make sure that our own enactment is suitable for Selangor,” said Ng, adding that a draft copy of the enactment has been handed over to the Federal government.
“We are waiting for their comments and we hope to get a green light from them for us to go ahead with our own law.”
Recently, Ng told SelangorKini that Selangor will not be part of Act 672 as it plans to enforce its own enactment once it receives the approval from the Federal government.
Apart from Selangor, it was reported that four other states — mainly Kelantan, Terengganu Perak and Penang — has not enforced Act 672.
Only seven states have signed an agreement with the Federal government to upgrade their solid waste management systems.
The Act is currently only enforced in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Pahang, Johor, Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Kedah.
Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin had previously said the signing of the agreement is important as a uniform national cleanliness policy would make Malaysia a cleaner country.
However, she also noted that it would be up to the states to find their own concessionaires to collect the rubbish, so long as the waste management is effective.
