Melaka seeks urgent help to expand its landfill

MELAKA: The state government has sent an urgent plea for help to the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry to approve its plan to expand the Sungai Udang landfill which has almost breached its maximum capacity.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron said unless it was expanded, the landfill would no longer be able to receive and process waste by next month.

He said, the landfill which has processed 720,000 tonnes of waste since it opened two years ago, could only be in operation for another 31 days or less.

He said the state needs help urgently as the waste collected could reach 1,500 tonnes during weekends and it is running out time to resolve the issue.

“The situation is critical and we need incinerators or a larger landfill to accommodate the increasing waste.

“We are appealing to the ministry help resolve our woes,” he said after closing the Cleanliness Is Our Culture programme at Seri Negeri.

Idris said the volume of garbage being processed at Sungai Undang landfill, the only landfill in the state, has surpassed by 100,000 tonnes, the 630,000 tonnes within two years which was projected when it was built.

“We need to expand the 44ha site by at least another 40ha in a short period to accommodate an estimated 28,000 tonnes of garbage collected once the landfill exceedsits maximum capacity, probably within the next one month,” Idris told The Star yesterday.

Any proposal to expand or open up new landfill needs the approval from the ministry.

Earlier, Idris said Melaka remained the cleanest state in the country and debunked unfounded report that its status had dropped to fourth position.

He said there were no listings issued by any accredited Government agencies or department that showed that the level of cleanliness in the state has dropped.

Deputy Housing, Local Government and Environment committee chairman Datuk Sazali Muhd Din last month said that Melaka was now in fourth position in term of cleanliness.