GEORGE TOWN: A Barisan Nasional lawmaker today has urged the Penang government to explain the delay in implementing a demolition order issued in 2015 against an illegal carbon filter factory in Sungai Lembu.
"Is the demolition order still delayed until today, pending a directive from the state executive council?" Pulau Betong assemblyman Datuk Muhamad Farid Saad asked after the state government revealed that it had taken actions against the factory.
He also demanded to know why the meeting minutes on the state government's decision to approve a policy not to demolish illegal factories built in the state pre-2008 was not revealed.
He said state Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh's move in asking the factory to be placed under the “legalisation process” (pemutihan) took place in May, 2015, seven years after DAP came into power in the state.
"Why seven years? Does it mean that the state government took seven years just to identify illegal factories operating in the state?" he further asked.
Farid said the state executive council had also ordered for a detailed study to be carried out to verify the Sungai Lembu villagers' claims on the illness they suffered due to close proximity to the factory.
"Was such a study carried out by the authorities, and if yes, what was the outcome?
"Was the outcome made known to the people, especially the villagers?" he asked.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told newsmen today that the minutes from the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP), dated May 6, 2015, was declassified to show that Phee had performed his duty as a state executive council member.
"This meeting minutes showed that Phee had done his job and dealt with the environmental aspect of the Sungai Lembu illegal factory.
"This also answers questions on how Phee carried out his duties," he was quoted as saying at his office in Komtar here.