Water and sugar shortage imminent if limestone quarries not allowed to operate – CICM

KUALA LUMPUR (June 24): The Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia (CICM) is urging the Government to immediately grant approval to limestone quarries to continue to operate in order to enable essential industries such as the water treatment and sugar industries to maintain supplies to the general public.

In a statement, CICM said its members — including lime producers — are gravely concerned over the potential disruption to essential supplies, namely sugar and water, due to the non-availability of lime.

The council said lime factories in the country have been operating by running down limestone stocks since June 1, but these stocks are getting critically low and will result in the shutdown of lime factories in the coming days and weeks.

"Normal reservoir water and river water needs to be tested and treated to produce water fit for human consumption. We all know what happens when our water supplies are contaminated. No water! But usually only in certain areas and for a limited time. What would happen if the water cannot be treated nationally for several weeks? No water for anyone, not even the industries," it said.

It explained that water treatment uses a common derivative of limestone, which is processed in lime factories that are located almost always near limestone quarries.

According to the council, in the first two lockdowns MCO 1.0 and MCO 2.0, as the water industry was deemed an essential industry and to facilitate its operations, all lime factories were given approval by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to operate, which continued during MCO 3.0.

But limestone quarries, which also had MITI approval to operate in the earlier MCOs, could not continue operating since the start of Full MCO 3.0 on June 1 as they were not given approvals by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (KeTSA) and State authorities, said CICM.

“These lime factories and limestone quarries have been strictly following the SOPs’ since March 2020, and have been inspected by the authorities on several occasions. It is important to note that these lime factories take several weeks to shutdown and restart, so the impact on essential industries will be long term when the shutdowns start,” the statement read.

Additionally, in order to minimise disruption to essential industries, factories will reduce production and will have no option but to curtail supplies to all customers, which includes essential industries.

This, CICM said, will eventually lead to the shutting down of water and effluent treatment, as well as the sugar industry.

"Can Malaysia take the risk? Or should the relevant authorities give approval for limestone quarries that feed the lime industry to start production?" it asked.

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