176 North Sumatra firms declared toxic: Agency

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The North Sumatra Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedalda) has discovered that at least 176 companies in the province produced toxic wastes.

Industries found producing the most toxic wastes are located in the Deli Serdang regency. Among the 77 industries are glass manufacturer PT Kedaung, jeans bleaching company PT Pancaran Cahaya Fajar, steel producer PT Tambah Mas Djaya and detergent producer PT Juli Subur Fuddin.

Medan municipality is placed second, where 71 industries such as textile producer PT Aribhawana Utama, chemical producer PT Pasifik Chemical and aluminum smelter PT Sinar Raya Inti Baru were found to produce toxic byproducts.

Third is Langkat regency with 11 industries, followed by Labuhan Batu with four, North and Central Tapanuli with three each, South Tapanuli and Asahan with two each, and Simalungun and Sibolga with one each.

Chief of North Sumatra's Bapedalda, Syamsul Arifin, said on Monday that the toxic content created by the industries were of various kinds, including mercury, cyanide, sulfide, phenols, heavy metals, ammonia, nitrate, acid residue and fluoride.

He said mercury had been detected in at least two gas plants in Langkat regency, namely the Crude Distilling processing plant and an asphalt processing plant, each with production capacities ranging from 1.13 tons to 163.45 tons per day.

According to Syamsul, his office had given them warnings that they had to recycle the toxic waste so that it would not harm the environment.

If the toxic waste exceeded the pollution threshold, the government will not hesitate to revoke their business permits, he said during a discussion with Commission D on development affairs at the North Sumatra legislative council.

Vice speaker of Commission D, Bustinursyah, who presided over the meeting, said he would form a caucus to overcome the problem involving officials from Bapelda, the legislature, environmental organizations and students with an interest in environmental issues.

Bustinursyah said the task of the caucus was to investigate any damage that may have been done by the companies, and so that council members would not have any doubts on the results assessed by Bapelda.

"The investigations are useful to know how pollution levels are produced by the companies. If results show levels have exceeded the standard, we will recommend that the government immediately revoke their operation licenses," Bustinursyah told the Post.