Fatimah studying the report during her visit to the landfill.
DALAT: Overloaded dumps at Mukah and Dalat District Council’s landfill site must be dealt with soon for the sake of the people’s health and sustainable environment.
On this, Welfare, Woman and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah feared that there would be a health issue arising from the hazardous situation.
She was looking seriously into the matter, noting that excess waste from Mukah was also being disposed of at the site.
“The total wastage from Mukah is about 36 tonnes per day compared to 12 tonnes from Dalat itself. This makes the total wastage per day 48 tonnes. The small landfill could not accommodate that (amount),” she said during a visit to the landfill on Thursday.
It is learnt that the Dalat District Council has to accept waste from Mukah as the latter’s landfill has been closed down while it is in the process of looking for a new dump site.
However, the search has been stalled for quite some time. The landfill is located along Jalan Mukah-Oya-Dalat and about 2km from Kampung Sungai Ud.
Fatimah, who is also Dalat assemblywoman, added that dumping contractors should be more considerate as she had received complaints over the matter. There was also garbage left on the shoulder of the access road leading to the landfill.
“I also find that the rubbish is (even) thrown into the drain whereby the water flows to Sungai Ud. This could affect the health of the people living nearby,” she said.
The matter had been reported prior to this. According to Penghulu Juhan Ilul of Kampung Ud, it was a never-ending problem.
The villagers once held a peace demonstration at the landfill when they could not tolerate the flies swarming in the area.
“This issue has to be resolved soon so that it does not create problems to the people as well as for the sake of a safe and quality environment,” Fatimah said.