Another one crushed: The parked car near SK Bahagia, Tawau was badly damaged by a falling tree.
KUALA LUMPUR: For every tree that needs to be felled in the city, 100 must be planted, said the Prime Minister in a directive to Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he has issued this instruction to Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh.
“I have instructed the mayor that for every tree that had to be cut down, 100 new trees must be planted,” he said in a post on X.
Anwar was responding to news reports on Monday quoting Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Dr Zaliha Mustafa as saying that the action was taken by DBKL in the wake of a huge tree that toppled onto a road during a thunderstorm recently, resulting in the death of a motorist.
According to Dr Zaliha, DBKL had been instructed to promptly fell trees at risk of falling down.
She also said DBKL has been told to improve the Shade Tree Management Plan and develop new guidelines pertaining to ageing or high-risk trees, which are expected to be completed by July to ensure similar incidents do not recur.
In SEREMBAN, Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun told landowners to trim or cut down trees that pose a hazard to the public.
He said old, huge trees on privately-owned land along public roads must also be cut or maintained to ensure they do not endanger motorists.
“The incident in Paroi last month, where a life was lost, reminds us of the importance of looking into these things,” he said.
On April 4, a 48-year-old man was killed after a tree fell on his car along Jalan Senawang-Paroi near Taman Rashidah Utama.
Aminuddin said the state government had been taking steps to cut or trim trees where necessary.
“We started this about three or four years ago when huge trees near SM King George V were cut down as they posed a hazard.
“Since then, we have been continuing with the tree-cutting exercise to prevent any untoward incident,” he said, adding that despite these efforts, there were still reports of falling trees.
Aminuddin said he had also told the Public Works Department, the Seremban City Council and the Forestry Department to step up efforts to check trees in public areas under their jurisdiction.
In the latest incident in Negri Sembilan, two stalls at a night market in Nilai were damaged when a tree was uprooted after heavy rain on Tuesday evening.
The 30m tall tree crashed onto vegetable and fruit stalls.
Fortunately, no one was injured.
In TAWAU, a car was damaged after a tree fell on it on it near a school in SK Bahagia on Tuesday evening.
No injuries were reported.
