Bentong MP Wong Tack has lambasted the responses made by Energy and Natural Resources minister Takiyuddin Hassan on alleged logging activities in the Kuala Raka Forest Reserve, Bentong, Pahang.
"I am of the opinion that the responses given were misleading and manipulative.
"The so-called existing road was just a small trail constructed during the 1970s.
"Over the past fifty-odd years, the forest has regenerated and healed, with good sized timbers. But now, the approved road has been bulldozed like a highway that stretches an estimated 7km.
"Currently, a healthy forest is being cleared. Definitely not 'sisa balak'," Wong said in a statement
In a parliamentary reply dated March 3, Takiyuddin said that the road in the Kuala Raka forest reserve had been an existing road since the 1970s.
He said that the Pahang Forestry Department had issued road permits to use the existing road in Kuala Raka forest reserve to clear out remaining timber from government land adjacent to the reserve.
The minister added the road permits granted for the existing road were issued to avoid clearing other parts of the forest to build new roads.
Wong called the minister's response "nonsense" as the forest on government land is located right next to a housing area with existing access.
"This is pure nonsense. The government-owned land that has been logged is located right next to the housing area with an existing access road less than 100 metres away from the main road.
"There is no reason to allow a 7km road as wide as a highway to be bulldozed through the steep slopes of the forest reserve," Wong said.
The Pahang state government has denied the existence of logging activities in the Bentong forest.
When Malaysiakini previously visited the Kuala Raka Forest Reserve together with Wong, a notice board stated that the developer was clearing the area to build an affordable housing project.
The road stretches for 4.6km and cuts through Raka Hill from west to east. It connects to the central spine road.
Heading west along this road, Malaysiakini and Wong's team discovered a logging site behind Taman Shahbandar Height.
Wong was told that all procedures stipulated by the Forestry Department were adhered to and that the state government would build PR1MA houses in the area.
Wong has called on the Pahang state government to be transparent about the status of the project.
"The Pahang state government must explain why a PR1MA housing project could be approved in such a highly environmentally sensitive area with steep slopes?
"Why this piece of land could not be spared when we know any erosion and mudflow caused will go into the township which lies just a stone's throw away?
"The people want to know when it was approved, show us all the approval documents and tell us at what stage this project is currently at," he said. - Mkini
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