The Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 will be enforced on Sept 1, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said.
Towards this end, he said the Cabinet, at a meeting two weeks ago, had approved three companies to carry out solid waste management in the peninsular.
“In Kedah and Perlis, it will be handled by Environment Idaman Sdn Bhd, which has 13 years experience in the field.
“The second company, Alam Flora Sdn Bhd, will be responsible for solid waste management in the central states, while Southern Waste Management Sdn Bhd will be responsible for states in the south of the peninsula,” he said.
He told this to reporters after opening the Angsana Complex and presenting annual grants to the Kedah (about RM30mil), Penang (RM10mil) and Perlis (RM2mil) local authorities here Saturday.
Chor said that with the companies concerned taking over solid waste management, the local authorities would be able to focus on improving the quality of their core services, like issuing of business licences, collecting assessment rate, enforcement and development planning.
“Through this approach, the ministry also wants to see that there will be improvement in solid waste management,” he added.
He said the federal government would be responsible for paying the service charge to the solid waste companies concerned.
“The local authorities will make the payment to the federal government and then we (federal government) will pay the companies,” he added.