EXCLUSIVE:ALOR SETAR: Logging has been spotted near one of the four major dams in Kedah, triggering concerns that such activities so close to the lake could dry up its tributaries and affect the water catchment area.
Ironically, it is just 28km away from the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve where logging is banned since September last year to protect the vast jungle there.
A trail of logging activities has been spotted in Bukit Keramat in the Kuala Nerang district, revealing a bare hill close to the Ahning Dam.
It is just about 2km away from the Ahning Lake, which is a catchment area.
The logging activity appears to have been carried out discreetly deep in the forest area around 4km from the Durian Burung Road, which has no villages or commercial entities.
The only entry to the hill is a small dusty road that snakes into several parts of the hill where the logging is carried out.
Photographs and videos captured by drones showed lorries carrying felled logs in and out of the hills continuously to a nearby logging depot.
State Forestry Department deputy director Abd Ramlizauyahhudin Mahli told The Star that the state government gave approval to log 1,400ha of the forest reserve land in Aug 1, 2017.
“A total of 700ha was logged over the last few months and work is going on at another 700ha,” he said, using the term cuci mangkuk, which means total felling.
He said the logging was only done now even though the approval was given more than 20 months ago due to the change of government, which delayed the work.
Asked how could it be carried out near a catchment area without an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, Abd Ramlizauyahhudin said the department only issued the licence to the logging concessionaire while the EIA came under the Department of Environment (DoE).
“The land has been converted from a forest reserve and re-zoned as development.
“Anyway, it’s a state directive, which we followed,” he added.
State DoE director Muhibbah Selamat said no application was made for the 1,400ha logging in Bukit Keramat and the department was powerless to do anything with a three-man team.
“We are not into enforcement as this is only done by the Forestry Department,” she added.
Under the EIA Order of 2015, it states an EIA report is needed for logging or cutting, or taking of timber for the purpose of conversion of forest to other land use that covers an area of 500ha or more, or logging or conversion of a forest to other uses within a catchment area of reservoirs used for municipal water supply, irrigation or hydropower.
When contacted, State Works, Water Supply and Water Resources Committee chairman Zamri Yusuf and State Environment, Science and Technology Committee chairman Simon Ooi said they did not have any details on the case.
In January last year, a staggering 500ha of timber land was logged within the Bukit Enggang forest reserve in Sik without an EIA.
Logging activities in a 1,700ha area were also found in Rimba Teloi Forest Reserve in Sik, Gunung Bongsu in Kulim and Gunung Inas in Baling in December last year.- Star
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