CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Kenep Consultancy & Services Sdn. Bhd and KenEp Resources

Kenep Consultancy & Services Sdn. Bhd (KCS) is a subsidiary of KenEp

Resource (Asia) Sdn. Bhd. (KR). KR is divided into three branches in

Malaysia, which distributes in Kuala Lumpur, Perak and Penang. Main

headquarter of KR is located in Perak branch.

KCS is an environmental consultancy firm, in which it is formerly known as

EIA department in KR. KR is established in 2003; meanwhile KCS is

separated and established in 2011. KCS has significant experience in

contributing to and managing many complex environmental assessments

for a variety of projects including quarry and mining consultancy services,

mineral exploration services, slope modelling, blasting design and

explosive magazine design, waste management, and others. Their

services include:

• Environmental Site Assessment

• Environmental Management Plan (EMP)

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

• Training in Environmental Planning and Management

• Social Impact Assessment

• Environmental Monitoring, Compliance Reporting and Auditing

• Environmental Auditing

• Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan

• Exploration License Application

• Land Application Report

• Licensing and Approvals

• Pre-feasibility Study

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1.2 Location map of KCS

Figure 1 Google map on the location of KCS and KR

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Managing director

Engineer / Head of consultant department

Financial / AdminHead of EIA department

Assistant consultant

Head of quarrying monitoring department

 

Assistant monitoring consultant

 

Operational director

1.3 Organisation chart in KCS

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CHAPTER 2: WEEKLY ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE

Week Activities

One

Received briefing on the department by internship

supervisor

Toured around KCS office and introduction to the

staff

Translated given documents

Read given reading materials (especially the

previous EIA report)

TWO

Recorded the meeting (related with the next EIA

submit and presentation)

Received briefing on the department by KR

manager

Learned how to use Corel Draw software

Calculated the mass balances of scheduled wastes

Corrected ESCP figure (Erosion and Sedimentation

Control Plan)

Learnt on preparation of ESCP report

THREE

Continued with mass balance calculation and

ESCP report

Read previous EIA report

Prepared and drafted a new EIA report

Raya holiday

FOUR

Continued with drafting the EIA report

FIVE

Corrected the EIA report (draft) before it was sent

out by courier

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5

Week Activities

SIX

Prepared of ESCP report that attached with the

drafted EIA report

SEVEN

Corrected a returned EMP report

Attended a briefing and discussion on how to

carrying out a social impact assessment survey in

Manjung, Sitiawan

Carried out social impact assessment survey in

Manjung, Sitiawan

EIGHT

Final checked on the correction of EMP report

Corrected the location plan of the drafted EIA

report

Searched and traced the new location with given

lot and later identified the neighbouring with RTD

within a radius 500 meter.

Translated and correct given documents

Started to prepare a new ESCP report

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CHAPTER 3: SPECIFICATION OF WORKS

3.1 Translation of documents

Most of the documents that needed to be translated from Chinese to

English were related with quarrying and mining process. These

translations are needed as the report of preliminary site inspection that

later stated and concluded in those documents was conducted by China

inspection team. The project proponents may employ the inspection team

from China for site inspection as they have experiences on geological

characteristic of the earth surface. Therefore, there is a need for

translating the terms from Chinese to English. The documents that are

needed to be translated are drawings and texts.

3.2 CorelDRAW® software

The drawing software that applied in KCS is CorelDRAW® X6 software.

Compared in the school, they did not using ArcGIS software and Erdas

software for mapping drawing. Besides, they also use CorelDRAW® and

AutoCAD for layout plan drawing instead of using Microsoft Visio.

CorelDRAW® software is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed

by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's

Graphics Suite, which bundles CorelDraw with bitmap-image editor Corel

Photo-Paint as well as other graphics-related programs. The most frequent

used in KCS is CorelDRAW® Graphics X6. The format set by KCS is

required when using Corel DRAW® to draw the map and figure.

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Figure 2 The typical CorelDraw® Graphic software that used in KCS.

3.3 Preparation of ESCP report

Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan, or also known as ESCP, is

important for preventing illicit discharge. It is prepared through the

identification of potential problems that posed by slope, drainage patterns,

and soil types. This plan is important in preparation of EIA and EMP for the

prescribed activity that involves changing original earth surface. In this

plan, the Best Management Practices (BMPs) will be listed as specific to

the project scope, along with the total disturbance area and installation

details and notes for the proposed BMPs. Measures include those

necessary to delineate areas of work, prevent erosion of unstable or

denuded areas, plan for construction staging and storage logistics,

construction of stabilized access points, and proper containment measures

for construction materials and waste. Typical BMPs application may

include temporary and permanent seeding, protect areas of exposed soil,

control of runoff velocity, minimizing channel erosion, sediment trap pond

formation and others. In Malaysia, an ESCP report is prepared with the

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proposed project concept, soil erosion modelling, and BMPs such as

sediment trap ponds design and other measures.

3.3.1 Soil erosion modelling

Soil erosion modelling is applied for predicting the anticipated amount of

soil erosion. There are a few predictive models that could be used, but the

most widely used and perhaps the most reliable method is Universal Soil

Loss Equation (USLE), which was introduced by Wishmeier and Smith in

1962. The USLE is used as a function of six factors, and each of which may

be calculated and expressed numerically. It is represented by the equation

below:

E= R.K.L.S.C.P

where,

E - Mean Annual Soil Loss

R - Rainfall Erosivity Index

K - Soil Erodibility Index

L - Slope Length Factor

S - Slope Steepness Factor

C - Vegetation/Cover Factor

Besides, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), which has the

same formula as USLE, but has several improvements in determining

factors, is also applied in soil erosion modelling. These include some new

and revised iso-erodent maps, a time-varying approach for soil erodibility

factor, a sub-factor approach for evaluating the cover-management factor,

a new equation to reflect slope length and steepness, and new

conservation-practice values (Renard et al., 1997), as shown in equation

below.

E= R.K.L.S.C.P

where,

A - Average Annual Soil Loss

R - Rainfall Erosivity Index

K - Soil Erodibility Index

L - Slope Length Factor

S - Slope Steepness Factor

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C - Vegetation/Cover Factor

P - Soil Conservation Practice Factor

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The Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) is the most frequently

used equations in sediment yield estimation. It was introduced by Williams

(1975) to calculate sediment yields of a catchment as a result of a specific

storm event. This empirical relationship is expressed by the following

equation for individual storm events:

Y = 89.6(VQp) 0.56 (K.L.S.C.P)

where,

Y - Sediment yields per storm event (tonnes)

V - Runoff volume in cubic meter

Qp - Peak discharge in m3/s

Figure 3 The photo shown example of a completed USLE table for estimation of the potential soul erosion.

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3.4.2 Silt trap pond design

The concept of silt trap pond (or also known as sediment trap pond)

design is based on URBAN STORMWATER MANAGEMENT MANUAL FOR

MALAYSIA 2 or also known as MSMAM 2, which published in 2012. MSMAM

2 is the latest and a good source of information on preventing erosion and

controlling sediment in runoff. A sediment basin will provide in order to

maintain in the status-quo with Average Recurrence Interval (ARI) for the

Pre and Post Development of the project.

A sediment basin (silt trap pond) is designed and constructed for the

purpose of collecting and storing sediment from sites cleared during

construction for extended periods of time before re-establishment of

permanent vegetation and/ or construction of permanent drainage

structures. The size of a sediment basin is proposed by consultant in ESCP

report according to the size of phases divided in respective proposed

project site. Therefore, a calculation sheet produced by Department of

Irrigation and Drainage is applied for estimating the size of the sediment

basin design before construction (as shown in Figure 4).

Figure 4 The examples of the calculation sheet for estimating the pond sizes construction.

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i) ii)

iii)

Drawing of the proposed ESCP involves earth drainage systems, drainage

flows, sediment trap ponds, buffering zone and silt fencing, as shown in

Figure 5. After all the main figures (ESCP layout plan and ESCP detailed set

up plan), a completed ESCP report was shown in Figure 6.

Figure 5 Typical drawing features that used in designing the construction plan

Figure 6 A complete ESCP report was attached with its figures which were printed in A1 size.

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3.4 Preparation of an EIA report

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a process of evaluating the

likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking

into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health

impacts, both beneficial and adverse. UNEP defines Environmental Impact

Assessment (EIA) as a tool used to identify the environmental, social and

economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making. It aims:

i. To provide Government with advice on the environmental

acceptability of development proposals and statutory planning

schemes.

ii. To predict environmental impacts at an early stage in project

planning and design, find ways and means to reduce adverse

impacts, shape projects to suit the local environment and present

the predictions and options to decision-makers.

By using EIA both environmental and economic benefits can be achieved,

such as reduced cost and time of project implementation and design,

avoided treatment/clean-up costs and impacts of laws and regulations.

Development proposals include proposals for mining, industry as well as

infrastructure such as ports, railways and pipelines. Planning schemes

include both statutory planning schemes and their amendments. Although

the legislation of EIA enforcement is different in various, the procedure of

the EIA is conducted as follows:

i. Screening to determine which projects or developments require a

full or partial impact assessment study

ii. Scoping to identify which potential impacts are relevant to assess

(based on legislative requirements, international conventions,

expert knowledge and public involvement), to identify alternative

solutions that avoid, mitigate or compensate adverse impacts on

biodiversity (including the option of not proceeding with the

development, finding alternative designs or sites which avoid the

impacts, incorporating safeguards in the design of the project, or

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providing compensation for adverse impacts), and finally to derive

terms of reference for the impact assessment

iii. Assessment and evaluation of impacts and development of

alternatives, to predict and identify the likely environmental impacts

of a proposed project or development, including the detailed

elaboration of alternatives;

iv. Reporting the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) or EIA report,

including an environmental management plan (EMP), and a non-

technical summary for the general audience.

v. Review of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), based on the

terms of reference (scoping) and public (including authority)

participation.

vi. Decision-making on whether to approve the project or not, and

under what conditions

vii. Monitoring, compliance, enforcement and environmental auditing.

As stated in Section 34(A) of the Environmental Quality (Amendment) Act

1985, any person intending to carry out any of the prescribed activities

shall need to submit an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report to

the Director General of Department of Environment (DOE) for endorsing

before any approval for carrying out such activity can be granted by the

relevant approving authority. In Malaysia, a prescribed activity is started

with an approval of PAT (Preliminary site assessment; Penilaian Awal

Tapak), followed with EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) and EMP

(Environmental Management Plan) before the prescribed activity is official

approved by DOE (Department of Environment). It provides a timely and

useful avenue for integrating environmental considerations into the

decision making process during the planning of a Project. For the EIA to be

effective, the following objectives will be achieved:

To collect and collate baseline data on the existing physio-chemical,

biological and socio-economic aspects of the immediate environment

in the Project area

To examine, identify, predict and assess all environmental impacts

associated with the proposed Project activities relating the operation

of the Project.

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To specify effective mitigation measures, where required, to be

incorporated into the present operation

To identify significant residual environmental impacts, if any, and to

specify the necessary monitoring requirement.

Before an EIA report writing, I was advised to review and revise the

previous approved EIA reports in the bookshelf as shown in Figure 7. This

is because KCS has its own format on EIA writing. The chapters involved in

an EIA report include declaration of the EIA team formation, description of

project proponent, details of project concepts, study of existing

environment quality status, identifying the potential impact and

appropriate environment management plan suggestion. The EIA report is

also attached with relevant documents such as land tittle or certificate of

land conversion, certificate of laboratory results, ESCP and AS-PAT

approval letter.

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Figure 7 A bookshelf which filled with previous approved EIA report.

3.4.1 Project concept and description with proposed site

Project description with proposed site refers to the project concept that

proposed by project proponent in PAT, as stated in PROCEDURE AND

REQUIREMENTS IN MALAYSIA that introduced by DOE (1990, revised

version in 2007). An example of AS-PAT form is attached in Appendix 1.

Most of similar projects such as quarrying, mining, housing development

and others have similar concepts and descriptions on their equipment and

requirements. The minor differences among the proposed projects involve

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site selection, site sizing, quantities and qualities of productions. A typical

project description in EIA report has:

key plan

topography plan that kindly shows the coordinate of the proposed

project site

location plan that involves using of cadastre map

layout plan of the proposed project

flow and process of the proposed project

3.4.2 Study of existing environment

Status of existing environment is important as the baseline of the current

environment quality. The physical environment and land characteristics of

the proposed Project are sourced from various published reports, maps

and field works for verification and confirmation purposes. It involves

i. Topography of the proposed project site

The topography map that used in EIA report to show the proposed

project site is Malaysian Topographic Map (Restricted).

ii. Regional geological characteristics of the site

The regional geological characteristics refer to the various types of

geological rocks and minerals distribution in Malaysia. This

investigation can be observed from the Geological Map of Malaysia

that published on 1985 by Department of Mineral and Geoscience.

iii. Soil characteristics of the site

Panton (1964) has given a broad description of Malaysian soils

where classifications have been made at the level of Great Soil

Group. Besides, more detailed description has been carried out by

Leamy and Panton (1966), as shown in Reconnaissance Soil Map

Malaysia which was amended and published on 2002.

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iv. Weather and climate present in the site (involve humidity,

temperature, wind rose profile, and rainfall) and hydrological profile

(involve groundwater and surface water)

The data sources of the proposed project site regarding on the

weather and climate studies are usually obtained from the

meteorological station that is the nearest to the proposed project

site. The hydrological data can be achieved from the previous

research study and Department Irrigation and Drainage. These data

is important for preparing erosion and sediment control plan and

other mitigation measures.

v. Existing environmental quality monitoring (water, air and noise)

The monitoring points for monitoring the existing environment

quality of proposed project site were suggested and set with Google

Earth, Google Map and topographic map. Then, the monitoring

assessment was assigned to other department (e.g. KR laboratory

department) or other laboratories for ensuring the certification and

verification of the results. After the laboratory report was achieved,

we needed to analysis and interpret the result to observe the

current environment quality status. Typical parameters used in the

study according to the types of proposed project are listed as

follows:

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Table 1 Typical parameter that used in monitoring the existing environment that related with respective proposed project concept

Monitori

ng area

Parameter Type of proposed project

Air Particulate matter

(PM10, PM2.5)

Gaseous (SO2, CO,

NOx, O3and etc.)

Quarrying and

mining

Industrial

Development and

construction

Water pH

Dissolved oxygen

Biochemical oxygen

demand – 5 day

(BOD5)

Chemical oxygen

demand (COD)

Ammoniacal nitrogen

(AN)

Oil and grease

Temperature

Suspended solid

Most for all prescribed

activities like quarrying

and mining, industrial

activities, development

and construction, logging

activities, and etc.

Noise - Quarrying and

mining

Industrial

Development and

construction

Traffic - Quarrying and

mining

Industrial

Development and

construction

Finally the results of the monitoring were used in modelling for

predicting future environment quality of the proposed site. This

modelling tasks was assigned to other modelling laboratory.

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vi. Existing biological environment and environmentally sensitive area

Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs) are land and water areas

containing natural features or ecological functions of such

significance as to warrant their protection in the best long-term

interest of the people and environment of the surrounding of the

site. The classification of ESA is according to certain criteria and

requirement such as:-

Areas that exhibit relatively high native plant and/or animal

species richness in the context of proposed project site.

Areas that provide links among two or more adjacent natural

systems.

Areas that contain plant and/or animal species that is rare

provincially or nationally.

Areas that contain representative earth science features

and/or processes typical of those which were instrumental in

creating proposed project site’s landscape.

Areas that are determined to or to be contribute significantly

to local and/or regional groundwater recharge area and

groundwater quality.

Areas that contribute to maintaining surface water quality.

These existing biological environment and ESA can be obtained

from various resources such as survey, research study or secondary

database. In KCS, the database of existing biological environment

was obtained from the previous studies of the researches and the

data that provided by the assigned statistic consultants.

vii. Existing human environment and social economics

The study of existing human environment and social economics was

achieved from the social impact assessment because the

assessment is required to understand the current social economics

in the nearest regions of the proposed project site. It is also

important for public participation in preparing EIA report.

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viii. Existing land use and future land use

The existing land use and future land use of the proposed project

site were obtained from Local Plan (Rancangan Tempatan Daerah or

RTD) and the current Google Earth and topographic map.

This study (known as preliminary study of the site) is important as the

development of an approved proposed project can bring along the

changes and effects on the existing environment. The environmental

quality of the site and surrounding of the site will be affected and may be

degraded during the operation period. Therefore, the study of the existing

environment can help us to identify and predict the potential impacts that

may occur during the operation of the proposed activities. Finally, an

environmental management plan can be developed for mitigating the

impacts and minimizing the effects of the impacts.

3.5 Social impact assessment

Social impact assessment is a methodology to review the social effects of

infrastructure projects and other development interventions. It includes

the processes of analysing, monitoring and managing the intended and

unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned

interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change

processes invoked by those interventions. There are various types of

methodologies to conduct a social impact assessment, however, the most

frequently and typically methodologies applied are surveys and

questionnaires.

A social impact assessment survey was conducted by a survey team of 6

members in Manjung, Perak on the first day 13th August 2015 (Thursday,

from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm) and 14th August 2015 (Friday, from 9.30 am to

6.00 pm). This assessment was conducted to review respective local

residents’ opinions on the proposed project. The study sites of the survey

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were taken in Simpang Lima Village, Pekan Gurney and Felcra Lekir. About

sixty respondents were taken in this survey. A survey questionnaire

prepared is including basic personal social economic details, their opinion

and perspectives on the coming proposed project, and their health aspect.

Figure 8 Location maps of the study areas during social impact assessment survey

Simpang Lima Village (Kampung Simpang Lima) is a small village that

established after Second World War. Population of the village is about a

thousand people. The basic infrastructures and facilities in the village

consist of a public hall, few shop lots, a grass field and a primary school.

The level education among the villagers are categorised in primary and

secondary school level. Agriculture activities and small business (grocery

shop) are the main source of social economic in the village.

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Figure 9 Kampung Simpang Lima

Pekan Gurney or Gurney's Town is a small town in Perak, Malaysia. This

town was founded in 1952 and named after Sir Henry Gurney, a former

British High Commissioner in Malaya. Chinese settlement is mainly found

in this town. The basic infrastructures and facilities in the village consist of

a public hall, shop lots, a grass field and school. The level education

among the villagers are categorised in primary and secondary school level.

Agriculture activities like rubber tappers, pig farmers and padi planters

and small scale commercial activities like grocery shop are the main

source of social economic in the village.

Figure 10 Pekan Gurney

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Felcra Lekir (Kampung Simpang Lima) is a Malay Settlement that

established under Rancangan Tanah Belia in Sitiawan, Perak. Population

of the village is about a thousand people. The basic infrastructures and

facilities in the village consist of a public hall, few shop lots, a grass field

and a primary school. The level education among the villagers are

categorised in secondary school level and university level. Agriculture

activities and small business (grocery shop) are the main source of social

economic in the village.

Figure 11 Entrance of Kampung Felcra Lekir

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Figure 12 A residential house in Kampung Felcra Lekir

From the survey, majority of respondents gave positive perspectives on

the coming proposed project. Minority of respondents did not give any

perspectives on the proposed project as they stated that they did not have

any idea on the proposed project. Some of the respondents gave negative

perspectives on the proposed project according to social economic status

in their region. The survey results were then passed to an assigned

statistic consultant for further analysis and interpretation.

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