Govt assures no new quarries, logging at Langkawi forest reserve

The Kedah state government has assured that no new quarries or logging licenses have been issued for the Gunung Raya Permanent Forest Reserve in Langkawi.

This comes after more than 16,000 people signed a petition to save the rainforest complex, which is part of a Unesco geopark, from logging and sand mining.

Responding to protests over the matter, the Kedah Menteri Besar (MB)'s office said there are an existing five licences for quarries in 142.5 hectares of the forest reserve, which have been issued since 1989.

This makes up about three percent of the 4,930 hectare-wide forest reserve.

The MB’s office clarified that a letter from the Kedah Forestry Department dated May 9, which went viral recently, is not for fresh logging.

Instead, it said the letter was directed to an existing licensee’s subsidiary, Yiked Holdings Sdn Bhd, to remove any remaining timber it had logged at the “compartment” for which it holds a quarry licence.

"It is actually a notification (by the Forestry Department) that the state's Permanent Committee on Land Resources (JKTHB) in its meeting on April 23, 2020 had decided that only 19 hectares of the forest are approved for sand and rock quarrying.

"As such, all companies which had previously been issued licences were instructed by the Kedah Forestry Department to identify the areas which were previously approved," the MB's office said in a statement.

Only one quarry operational

The MB’s office said of the five quarries licenced since 1989, only one is operating.

The stone quarry is licenced to Perniagaan Rahim & Fauzi, and is located on 3.51 hectares in Compartment 1.

The other licenses were issued from 2017 to 2020 for 139 hectares, but the quarries are not operating.

They are for sand and granite quarries in Compartments 11 and 12, with three licences issued to Yayasan Islam Negeri Kedah (Yiked) and another to Permodalan Kedah Bhd.

In the petition, activists urged Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, to protect the Gunung Raya Permanent Forest Reserve.

They said the reserve was included as part of Southeast Asia's first Unesco Global Geopark due to its geological and conservation importance.

"If projects are allowed to continue, loggers and sand miners will take advantage of the rich natural resources on Langkawi for profit.

"Logging and sand mining pose a threat to the rich ecosystem and the hundreds of species of flora and fauna on the island.

"It can change and destroy nesting, feeding, and breeding sites of native animals, and destroy unique species of trees and plants," the petition reads.

Petitioners also raised concern over the impact on natural geological formations and possible pollution of the island's sources of water.- Mkini