This is the question raised by our newly appointed environment minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. In fact, our minister correctly pointed out that way back in 2019, EIA was available in our government website published and managed by Department Of Environment (DOE). Back then, I remembered reading about the gold mining activities proposed to be carried out in Tawau and the famous ecodevelopment project in our Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu.
However, we had a different problem then as the EIA was only made available for a short period to be viewed and commented by the public. If I could recall clearly, it was for one month. One month could be deemed to be too short a time to be informed of the availability of the publication and to read, understand, review and comment constructively as normally these reports could exceed 200 pages easily. So, most of the time, the publication of the report would go unnoticed and thus not commented by all interested parties of the public.
The other problem is that EIA is submitted by the consultant engaged by the developer. Thus, most of the time, the report is in favour of the developer. Sometimes, the results and data analyzed may conflict with the conclusions and recommendations; which may not be picked up without due diligence study of the report. And worse still, some recommendations for mitigation measures seem just so vague to be implemented. At other times, measures such as regeneration of the vegetations of the areas affected by the activity of the development were proposed to be presented at the end of the activity. Thus, the time frame for adequate and proper review is just as important as the publication of the report.
As such, I laud the actions of the new environment minister to find out the reasons behind DOE decision not to publish the EIA reports in their website for public review. I hope that the action does not only stop there. If possible, please revive the publication in website and extend the period for public review. Any major projects which may impact our environment should be reviewed carefully by the public, environmentalists and engineers. One of the possible solutions would be to disseminate the information through bodies like IEM.
In conclusion and in my humble opinion, all EIA reports need to be reviewed and commented by the public and the time frame allowed should be in accordance to the volume and complexity of the report.
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