MIRI: Cahya Mata Sarawak Premix has expressed its sincere regret and apology to the people for the inconvenience they are facing after diesel was spilled to the water treatment plant in Lambir on March 4.
CMS’ Group managing director, Dato Richard Curtis, said that they would take all the necessary measures to ensure the safety and health of the people was not compromised.
Speaking in a press conference at the site of the premix plant here yesterday, Curtis said that CMSP had always adhered to the highest standards of safety and had acted very quickly in the containing the impact of the spillage and the safety of the surrounding community.
“The plant has been in operation since 1992 and has never recorded any negative incident. The spillage was discovered at a new installation that was commissioned in 2010.”
Following their internal investigations, Curtis said they had lodged a police report and were working closely with the authorities to ascertain the actual cause of the spillage.
“We would like to thank all parties, especially the Department of Environment (DOE), for their cooperation and assistance in the matter.”
Also present at the press conference were Datuk Peter Chin’s political secretary Datuk Sebastian Ting and head of DOE Miri Siva Nathiran Subramaniam.
More than 300,000 people in Miri and Bekenu were affected by the stoppage of the treatment plant due to spillage. The water supply disruption has led to bottled water to skyrocket to RM25 per box from the usual price of RM8 caused by panic buying as taps ran dry following the incident.