Ditch Near Penang Airport Turns Into Dumpsite

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CAP official NV Subbarow pointing to the rubbish in the ditch near the Penang airport.GEORGE TOWN: The pollution of a ditch next to the Penang International Airport runway in Batu Maung is so heavy the water in it has turned black. It emits a foul odour and is teeming with mosquitoes.
Hundreds of empty liquor bottles and loads of household waste and oily substances could be seen in it yesterday.
The ditch lies on the east side of the runway near Kampung Naran and is about 2km long. It leads to Sungai Kelian, which empties into the Malacca Strait in the east. Google Earth’s aerial pictures show the murky water flowing from the ditch into the river and ending up at the river mouth.
A cleaning contractor who was clearing a small part of the ditch near the runway yesterday said close to 1,000kg of rubbish had been removed from the ditch and river so far.
“It will take days to clear this,” said a worker.
A motorcycle crossing a bridge over the ditch.Kampung Naran resident Norhayati Bakar said the ditch overflowed two days ago, bringing a torrent of rubbish and oily water into her house.
“We don’t throw rubbish there,” she said. “The council trucks come here to pick them up.”
The ditch predates the airport’s construction and was once used to irrigate padi fields. It meanders around the airport and is adjacent to the Free Industrial Zone.
City council contract workers clearing rubbish near the ditch.Consumers Association of Penang education officer NV Subbarow called for water samples to be taken from the ditch to find out the culprits responsible for the pollution. He said an urgent cleanup was needed to remove the threat to public health.
An FMT reporter found that containers of waste had been placed on the road shoulder at the upstream of the ditch. There were 10 one-tonne containers filled to the brim with plastic and paper waste.
Uncleared containers of waste on a road next to the ditch.State Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh told FMT the Department of Environment would carry out an investigation.
He said an emergency meeting would be called today to decide on the immediate action to be taken.
State Infrastructure Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari said the inter-agency district river task force would also look into the matter. - FMT

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