Bintulu alumina project scrapped

By MC Wong

| The Australian aluminium group Comalco decided on 3rd April to build the proposed alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, instead of Bintulu, Sarawak. The public in Bintulu, particularly the residents in Similajau district where the 100 million tonnes of red mud waste would be dumped had Comalco chosen the project to be sited here, can breath a sign of relief for now since the proposal was first announced in 1998.

A Matter of Shifting the Problems?

7 April 2000 - The Australian aluminium group Comalco decided on 3rd April to build the proposed alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia, instead of Bintulu, Sarawak. The public in Bintulu, particularly the residents in Similajau district where the 100 million tonnes of red mud waste would be dumped had Comalco chosen the project to be sited here, can breath a sign of relief for now since the proposal was first announced in 1998.

While the government of Sarawak has not made any public comment, it can be expected to be disappointed to let the RM3 billion project slipped away. Among others, the proposed plant claimed to be able to provide thousands of jobs in Sarawak. Not the Australian Federal Minister for Industry, Science and Resources, Senator Nick Minchin though who welcomed the decision.

Comalco had apparently considered the availability of competitive gas supply offered by Papau New Guinea (PNG) through a pipe supply line, an A$3.5 billion project of Chevron Corp. Comalco Ltd claims that the governments of the Commonwealth of Australia and the state of Queensland as well as the local government back this high energy consuming project.

Earlier there were strong protests in Sarawak against the Bintulu aluminium industry that would pose negative impacts to both human society and the natural environment where a national park is located near by.

Meantime, while the final feasibility study is to take place, equal concerns of similar and other negative impacts at Gladstone and PNG should be alerted. For instance, the impacts of the gas pipeline connecting the two countries over land and sea coral reef areas are of great concern. Equally of concern is also the environmental impact of the proposed plant would inevitably bring upon should the project go ahead eventually. The social-economic effects on the affected communities should be attended to too. Comalco Ltd should apply the same Australian environmental standards and considerations to its neighbouring country.

The decision looks like making a better sense as the raw material, bauxite is found in the country. However, the answer seems to lie on reducing consumption for such pollution causing and high-energy consuming metal or finding a substitute and or an alternative.

The fate of human being is globally linked, and shifting the problems is not a solution at all.