Aluminium smelting plant Press Metal refutes pollution claims

The chief executive of an aluminium smelting plant here has refuted claims that his factory is a major polluter.

Press Metal Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Koon Poh Keong told a press conference all doubters were “welcome” to visit the smeltery, which he insisted was environmentally responsible.

“We are misunderstood. People’s perceptions of aluminium factories are based on ideas from 20 or 30 years ago.

“This factory uses latest technologies to meet the Environment Department’s requirements, which are the same as those of the World Bank,” Koon said, when told the plant was last week highlighted negatively by whistleblower website Sarawak Report.

Alleged pollution by the plant has also been a core Pakatan Rakyat campaign point in the Balingian by-election.

Koon urged critics to look at the factory’s emissions track record which is publicly available.

He said the plant’s emission levels were reported to the Environment Department every hour.

The plant adopted best practices similar to policies in developed nations like Australia, where green movements are even stronger, he added.

“We have an open policy. Anyone can come, by all means, come, visit us. We organise tours for schools all the time.

“We don’t want to hide, because we have nothing to hide; we don’t want to be mysterious, because we are not mysterious,” he said.

The aluminium smelter built in Mukah was the first in South-East Asia.

Its 208 smelting pots fired up five years ago.

It is one of two Press Metal aluminium smelters in South-East Asia, the other is in the late stages of construction in Samalaju near Bintulu.

Koon said modern smelters were safe enough to be built in densely populated areas.

He pointed out in Dubai, a plant almost 10 times the production capacity of the Mukah smelter, was located opposite Dubai Mall, which is the world’s largest shopping complex.

“Dubai is a big, modern city, where property prices are extremely high. Yet there is a giant smelter in the middle of the city.

“There are similar examples in Germany. My point is we can now control emissions by engaging technology,” he said.

Koon was speaking to reporters prior to a series of corporate social responsibility programmes in and around Mukah town and Kuala Balingian yesterday.

Its Mukah smelter has a production capacity of 120,000 tones per annum, while the Samalaju facility will have a capacity of 320,000.

The former consumes an estimated 200MW of electricity, while the latter as much as 500MW.

The Press Metal Group is one of the state’s largest power clients.

Koon said he believed in the green credentials of hydropower, which is actively being pursued by the state government.

“Sarawak is very blessed with very unique resources. Not many places in the world can you have hydro dams so close to ports and users.

“Bakun dam is only 200km away. If they can bring opportunities of growth, why not?

“Because there is energy, there has been investments.” he said.

The company is a cornerstone of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy master plan by the government.

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