The Pahang government cancelled an approval for 23,872 hectares of forest plantations in the state last July after the contractor failed to make progress in the replanting scheme.
In a statement, the state government said the replanting scheme in the state involved a total of 100,000 hectares of forest land and the state government constantly monitors the performance of forest plantation projects.
About 28 percent of the 100,000 hectares forest has been replanted, said state government.
"In 2021, the state government revoked the existing approval for the inactive forest planting activities. This involved a total of 33 inactive companies which are supposed to cover 23,872 hectares of forest land.
"Out of this, 16 companies involved in the replanting of 12,005 hectares of forest, have applied for reconsideration. The remaining 11,866 hectares were removed from the scheme.
"These companies were removed because they had failed to replant the forest land," said the state government.
Pahang come under fire last month after local environmental news site Macaranga reported that "only 5 percent of the 77,331 hectares of forest reserves cleared in Pahang for plantations from 2012 to 2020 were replanted".
On April 8, Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail revealed that a total of 23,000 hectares of forest plantations were removed from the plantation scheme. He, however, did not provide an explanation for the cancellation of the scheme.
Last Friday, US-based environmental news portal Mongabay quoted PKR's Semambu state assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung as labelling the programme as a “cover-up” for the logging programme.
"Up until now, we have inked a 50,000 hectares reforestation project agreement with a private company. The replanting will take place in the forest reserve in Lesong, Kemasul, Lepar and Tekai Tembeling," said the state government. - Mkini
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