Pahang miners to pay cost for building road dedicated to bauxite transport

Bauxite miners in Pahang in the Kuantan Bay area have to bear the cost of constructing the road that will be used exclusively for transporting bauxite from Bukit Goh to the Port, said Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob.

Based on his latest discussion with the state’s Land and Mining Office, Adnan said, the road is expected to be built as planned.

“The cost will be borne among the bauxite mining operators, not the state government,” Adnan said last Saturday. “What can we do, royalty was not paid. Now, we impose a new regulation, to enter the port, they have to pay royalty.”

Adnan also indicated that the Kuantan government would issue standard operating procedures (SOP) for the bauxite industry and associated logistics once the current moratorium was over. The procedures cover requirements that the bauxite-carrying trucks be clean, that stipulated speed limits are observed by the truck drivers, that the specially built trucks be loaded well within the capacity, and that the trucks plying on the route do not pose any safety risk to general public.

The road dedicated for bauxite ore transport is part of a larger plan to keep a tab on the region's bauxite mining industry and establish regulations for them to operate in an environmentally responsible manner. The plan was announced initially in February by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

The three-mile long planned thoroughfare, stretching from Bukit Goh to the Port which, has also been approved by the state’s government and its Works Department, said Wan Junaidi on an earlier occasion.

Bauxite mining in Pahang has been closed since January 15 after the state government responded to calls from residents to stop the rampant pollution and irresponsible mining methods engaged by several bauxite miners in the Bukit Goh area. Environmentally unsustainable mining had led to widespread pollution of land, rivers and streams in the area, and severe pollution in the Bay of Kuantan.

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