Cambodians say biofuel factory "killing" their lake
A KOREAN-owned biofuel factory is being blamed by local officials and villagers for dead fish and polluted water in a lake near the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, according to newspaper reports.
Provincial officials and local villagers in Kandal province claim liquid waste from the plant, which produces ethanol for automobile biofuel, has polluted a public lake and poisoned tonnes of fish.
The plant is operated by MH Bio Energy Co., which is thought to be a subsidiary of Korea-registered MH Ethanol Co., Ltd which was formerly known as Muhak Alcohol Co., Ltd.
Tong Simy, district governor where the MH plant is located, said polluted water from a poorly designed waste pond was responsible for poisoning fish in the 325-hectare Samrong Lake.
The lake has traditionally been used by villagers for fishing, farming and also as their main source of drinking water.
Tong said the plant could face closure if it does not take steps to stop waste leakage into the pond. “I think the company has been careless. We will ask the government to intervene if the pollution continues,” he told the Phnom Penh Post.
Lee Dong Jun, executive director of MH Bio Energy, said reports about leakages were fabricated. “My business is a legal business and represents the future of Cambodia’s economy,” he said.
MH Bio-energy Group chief executive officer, Mr Choi Wee Sung said last month he hoped the new plant would help Cambodia go green.
One villager, requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal, said Choi’s hopes are coming true. “The lake is covered with green scum and effluent since the ethanol plant started. They are killing the lake.”
The factory proposes to buy a minimum of 30,000 tons of locally grown cassava per year to convert into ethanol for use as biofuel, and is expected to reach full capacity by next year, Choi told another local newspaper last month.
MH Bio-Energy Group describes itself on trading website Alibaba as ‘the biggest Korean investment company in Cambodia.’
Rasmei Kampuchea Daily quoted the Cambodia prime minister’s spokesman, Eng Sophalet, as welcoming the company’s ambitions, and said MH have already been invited to expand nationally.
MH is gearing up for growth. To ensure adequate feedstock supplies, the company has planted cassava on 8,000 hectares of land it owns in Kampong Speu province, where it employs about 10,000 people.
MH Bio Energy executive director, Lee Dong Jun, said growing cassava generates better profits than rice or maize.
The yield ranged from 40 tons a hectare in Battambang and Kampong Cham to 10 tons a hectare in Kampong Speu.
Cambodia’s secretary of state for the ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said Cambodia harvests more than one million tons of cassava per year, but demand from Thailand and Vietnam means production will need to be increased.
“Therefore, the ministry is encouraging more farmers to grow it,” Chan Tong Yves said.
Filed under: Cambodia, biofuel, car Fuel, deforestation