BUTTERWORTH, 25 MARCH, 2012: Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) today asked how a proposed solar panel manufacturing plant in Batu Kawan, Penang, was approved by the state government without an operating licence or approval from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).  

   
PCM vice-president Huan Cheng Guan said an AELB operating licence was a compulsory prerequisite for any factory or plant producing radioactive materials as products or waste.
    
"A news portal yesterday quoted AELB director-general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan as saying that the board had not received any application for the plant in Batu Kawan.
    
"PCM is questioning how the Penang government can approve the construction of the plant when no application has been made for an AELB licence or approval," he told reporters here.
    
The portal quoted Raja Abdul Aziz as saying that the project had to be evaluated by AELB despite the initial approval from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
    
"If they do not get the approval from AELB, they will not be able to operate. This is due to the fact that the solar panel plant will produce radioactive material and we have to evaluate the level of its radioactivity,” Raja Abdul Aziz was quoted as saying.
    
Huan said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should stop the project as it did not have AELB approval and put at risk the safety of the people in the vicinity.
    
"As a state government which often professed transparency and accountability, it should by right get the people's views before implementing the project," he said.
    
It is learnt that the plant would be built with an investment of RM2.2 billion by a German company which is said to have started the process of acquiring 32 hectares of land in the area for the purpose.
    

- Bernama

 

 

 

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