Photo: COWI

Malaysia combats waste 

COWI has won a four-year contract with Danida that will assist Malaysia in establishing its first National Waste Management Strategy.
In 2004, Malaysia's gross national product increased by more than seven per cent and the same is expected for 2005.

Four-year partnership

This makes it the world's third fastest growing economy, but as growth and prosperity increases, so does the amount of waste.

By February 2006, COWI will begin a four-year partnership with the Malaysian government to implement the National Solid Waste Management Strategy - the country's first cohesive strategy for sorting and limiting waste.

The project is funded by Danida and the contract is valued at DKK 23 million.

"The amount of waste in Malaysia is growing at rapidly, but the government is determined to get to grips with the problem. A new strategy has now been approved and COWI will assist the authorities by ensuring that the institutional apparatus is in place, both centrally and locally. A financial model for the strategy will also be made," explains COWI's Project Director, Henrik Brade Johansen.


Years of experience

COWI has been working with environmental projects in Malaysia since 1996. The latest project, which was also with Danida, involved the development of a cohesive strategy for the urban environment in Kuching in the western state of Sarawak on Borneo.

The emphasis in this environmental management project is on waste management, and the experiences gained here will be put to good use in the national project.
Photo: COWI


Ib Larsen has been Project Manager for the Kuching project, but will by February change address from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur for the next four years as Project Manager for the National Waste Management Strategy project.

"As far as the national strategy is concerned, it is essential to make the division of responsibilities between the central and local authorities absolutely clear. Fortunately the Malaysians have great respect for authorities, so decrees coming from above usually gets implemented quite smoothly," says Ib Larsen.

One of the success criteria will be whether – in the course of time – it will be possible to change the attitude of the Malaysian public.

Among the relatively large and growing middle class, there is an increasing appreciation of the importance of protecting the environment.


The meaning of success

The success of this project will have an impact on Malaysia in more ways than one: The waste situation will be brought under control and the country can become a role model in the field of waste management in Asia, enabling it to export its new administrative model to other countries in that part of the world – primarily in Indonesia.

"For COWI a successful outcome could mean future opportunities to supplement our technical knowledge with institutional knowledge which will be valuable when offering support to authorities in other developing countries," says Henrik Brade Johansen.

By Eva Isager, cht@cowi.com
Published: 23.12.2006