IPOH: The environment impact assessment (EIA) for a proposed forest plantation project at the Kledang Saiong permanent forest reserve in Kuala Kangsar is one-sided, says Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj.
The PSM chairman said that there are a lot of assumptions in the EIA report, including a point that there are parts of the forest reserve that have been heavily logged.
"Some issues related to the Orang Asli and endangered species were not included in the EIA report," he told a press conference here on Monday (July 10).
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He then handed a memorandum objecting to the project to Perak Mentri Besar special officer Rahim Nawawi outside the State Secretariat building.
"The developer involved had commissioned the EIA to be conducted. The Environment Department should have been the ones to do the EIA," he said.
On Feb 17, eight NGOs submitted a memorandum to the Perak Sultan's office, requesting the Ruler to intervene in the proposed 4,280ha forest plantation or monoculture farming project at the forest reserve.
The NGOs requested Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah to instruct the state authorities to comply with the decision made at the 79th National Land Council meeting on Dec 2, 2021, to impose a 15-year moratorium on approvals for new forest plantations in permanent forest reserves in the peninsula.
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Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad had also said in February that the project did not violate any regulations, adding that the total area approved under the Forest Plantation Development Zone was 100,000ha, but the state government had reduced the size to around 32,000ha.
Dr Jeyakumar said he has also brought the matter to Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad's attention and hoped for an intervention.
"We want the government to reject the EIA. We also want a date to meet with the Mentri Besar to discuss it further," he added.
Also present were Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman, Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (Kuasa) president Hafizuddin Nasarudin and Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia (Peka) executive council member Damian Thanam Divean.
