An inspection committee has begun investigating the antimony metal refinery plants in Mon State’s capital city, Mawlamyine, following the complaints from nearby residents.
The residents of Mawlamyine’s Industrial Zone have been fighting a battle against the metal refinery plants for years, concerned about the factory’s potentially toxic fumes. In 2014, some factories were forced to stop operation indefinitely due to odor emissions. Factories ignored state regulations to make taller smokestacks and control odor emissions. Reacting to the fumes, over 400 residents of the Industrial Zone staged a protest in June, 2018, and demanded the government take action against the factories.
U Min Zaw Oo is a worker at a Garment Factory located only 300 feet away from the antimony refinery plants. According to him, when the plants were in operation, the emissions from the plant gave some people dry throats and made others dizzy.
Residents sent complaint letters to the President Office twice. They also addressed the President during his trip to Mon State on December 14, 2018, reported Dr. Min Kyi Win, Mon State Minister for Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation.
As a result of these letters, the President Office directed the government to form an investigative committee. The findings from the investigation will be submitted to the President Office. U Tin Nyo, the director of the Mon State Industrial Supervision and Inspection Department, heads the newly formed Mon State Inspection Committee. The Committee is comprised of six government officials from different departments.
The committee began its investigation on Tuesday February 5, meeting with the locals who submitted the complaint letters at the Mon State Industrial Supervision and Inspection Department Office. The investigation also involves a field inspection of the factories.
“They inquired specifically about whether or not the factories emit a bad odor. It shows support for the complaint letters. They are also investigating the harm done to local residents as a result of the emissions,” said Ko Han Thar, a resident of the Mawlamyine Industrial Zone present at the investigation.
Currently, there are six antimony factories at the Mawlamyine Industrial Zone, but only two plants have been in operation since a series of indefinite closures in 2014.
At the Amyotha Hluttaw (House of Nationalities) session on December 19, 2018, representative Daw Nwe Nwe Aung of Mon State (Constituency 2) asked about the closure of antimony factories running on coal power. Deputy Minister for Natural Resource and Environmental Conservation Dr. Ye Myint Swe responded by saying field work would be conducted at the two factories to test the equipment used to measure the environmental quality. He continued that if the equipment did not meet government standards, the natural resource and environmental conservation ministry would report to the Mon State Government and took action against [the factories]. But at the moment, the factories had not been directed to close yet.
