Mountain-top durian farm began with ex-MB Bashah, says Mukhriz

 

Mukhriz Mahathir says Gunung Inas was once a permanent forest reserve, which was degazetted and converted for agriculture use by the BN government in 2007. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Kedah decided to plant durian trees instead of rubber trees on a Baling mountain when Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah of Umno was the menteri besar from 2016 to 2018, another former menteri besar, Mukhriz Mahathir, said.

Mukhriz’s claim follows intense finger-pointing over which government allowed Musang King durian trees to be planted on Gunung Inas and allegedly caused a massive debris flow inundating a village and displacing over 1,000 people last week.

In a statement, Mukhriz claimed a Kedah government company was first entrusted to plant durians on the mountain during Bashah’s term but failed, after which a private company took over the project.

“Later, Aman Mega Sdn Bhd, which the ECK company bought over, was allowed to plant durians there,” he said in reference to ECK Group, a property developer.

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FMT has contacted ECK Group for comment.

Mukhriz said Gunung Inas was once a permanent forest reserve, but was degazetted and converted for agriculture use by the Barisan Nasional government in 2007.

He said that when PAS took over the state government in 2008, the land was cleared to plant timber latex clone (TLC), a rubber tree variety that can be harvested for latex and timber.

“To start a new plantation, involving TLC or other varieties, you must first cut down trees before replanting,” he said.

“Was an environmental impact assessment carried out when the mountain was cleared for the replanting project?

“The recent disaster would not have occurred if the forest reserve had not been cleared to carry out high-value logging and if there had been no clearing out of trees under the ‘Ladang Sejahtera’ project after 2013.”

Mukhriz said he was one of the first to object to the Ladang Sejahtera project in 2012, raising concerns over the massive area that had to be cleared from the forest reserve.

He said he had also expressed concern over PAS’ track record in carrying out “Ladang Rakyat” projects in Kelantan through massive hill clearing, which had led to floods there.

“When I returned as Kedah menteri besar in 2018, I decided to limit durian planting to 20%, as at that time, only that much had been planted,” he said.

“The environment department had approved the percentage and allowed TLC and seven other plant species to be planted there.”

Energy and natural resources minister Takiyuddin Hassan had said the Baling floods were not caused by logging.

However, he said, forest development had been carried out in “compartment eight” of the forest reserve since 2019 with the state government’s approval.

The forest development was carried out for reforestation purposes and so far, more than 5,000 trees had been planted on a 52ha site, it was reported.

Several villages in the Kupang area in Baling were hit by flash floods following continuous rain last week, causing Sungai Kupang to overflow. Seven houses were washed away and about 70 others were damaged. At least 1,500 people were displaced. - FMT