PUTRAJAYA: The Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources will hold a public hearing session and engagement to improve the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the management of mines and exporting of bauxite in Pahang.
The ministry in its statement today, said the engagement process would be held before March 31 and would take into account the interest of the people and non-government organisations concerned with the environment.
According to the statement, the SOP encompassed all aspects including mining planning, bauxite mining site management, transportation and enforcement, management of stockpile site and harbour and bauxite export procedure.
‘’The members of the public will have access and scrutiny of the SOP on a date that will be announced later,’’ it said.
The ministry said the engagement session would be held following the Cabinet decision on Feb 18 that the moratorium on the mining activity and the export of bauxite from Pahang would be ended on March 31.
Subsequently, all mining and exporting activities pertaining to the mineral could be continued but this time with a new SOP and stricter law enforcement.
The ministry said it was committed to ensure all the grouses of the people especially who were directly impacted with the bauxite mining activities were heard in line with the vision of the ministry as the leader of sustainable water, land and natural resources management for the well-being of the people.
The ministry said the efforts were also implemented with the co-operation of the Department of Environment, Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climatic Changes (Mestecc) and the Pahang state government. — Bernama
