The controversial mountain-top plantation linked to the recent flood in Baling, Kedah, was not supposed to plant durians, according to the Environment Department (DOE).
Instead, the department said that the environmental impact assessment (EIA) that was approved in July 2013 was for a rubber tree plantation.
In a statement today, DOE director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said the approved project was to log a 5,000-hectare area on the mountain and turn it into a “mono-crop forest plantation” consisting of latex clone (TLC) rubber trees.
TLC rubber trees are grown for timber, with latex as a by-product.
However, Wan Latiff said a notice was issued on March 10 last year to the project developer after it was discovered that they had planted durians instead.
The project and the forest clearing to facilitate it has been blamed for devastating floods that hit Baling on Monday, killing three and displacing over 400 people.
According to Wan Latiff, an inspection on May 24 found that there has been no replanting of tree saplings in compartment 8 of the project.
There had also been no active logging or replanting works since the first lockdown in 2020 as approval was not granted by the International Trade and Industry Ministry, he said.
However, he said, groundcover plants have been planted and are covering all exposed areas.
As to who the project developer was, the DOE director said it was initially Kedah’s Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) and JV Kedah Agro Plantation Sdn Bhd.
However, it was then changed to Aman Mega Sdn Bhd.
Aman Mega is linked to ECK Development Sdn Bhd, which is the joint venture company for the multi-billion ringgit Kulim Airport and the developer of the RM6.3 billion Penang undersea tunnel project.
Meanwhile, Wan Latiff stressed that approval for the EIA was given only after a technical review committee found that sufficient pollution control, mitigation, and prevention measures would be put in place. - Mkini
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