Putrajaya unhappy over Sg Pulai, but our hands are tied - Xavier

Putrajaya has expressed its dissatisfaction with the Johor government over part of the Sungai Pulai Forest Reserve being turned into the Forest City Golf Resort.

According to Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Xavier Jayakumar, however, the federal government is powerless to do anything about the encroachment.

"It is already done, so what you want (us) to do? We in the federal government do not have any law that we can use in order to take action in the state level. 

"We are in an advisory role as far as state land is concerned, we are just advising them and we have called them already.

"We can only express our dissatisfaction with the state government," he told reporters when met at Semenyih.

Xavier pointed out, however, that Putrajaya has brought up the matter of two new Forest City golf courses.

The Sungai Pulai Forest Reserve, which supports a rich biological diversity of many mangrove and animal species, was gazetted in 1962. 

In 2003, it was identified as a wetland of international importance and placed on the Ramsar List. Malaysia is a signatory of the Ramsar Convention.

In a special report, Malaysiakini established that Forest City Golf Resort was built in an area that is part of the forest reserve.

[More to follow] - Mkini