Putrajaya has been urged to revoke two environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports for a road project in Pahang that will cut through a new tiger reserve.
In a statement, RimbaWatch said it has sighted an accurate map of the alignment of the proposed road and confirmed that it will affect a highly sensitive wildlife area.
"There is no way to build a road through the area without creating deforestation, impacting wildlife connectivity, and exposing endangered species to human-wildlife conflict and poaching.
"In order to protect Malaysia's remaining 100 tigers, the ecological integrity of this park is key," said RimbaWatch.
The group said the construction of the road will involve deforesting the Gunung Aais Forest Reserve, which has been a hutan perlindungan for some time and remained a virgin forest.
In May, Pahang Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail told the Pahang state legislative assembly that the state government was working on gazetting parts of the Gunung Aais forest reserve as the Al-Sultan Abdullah Royal Tiger Reserve, which will span 134,183ha.
The first phase, measuring 92,649ha, was gazetted on May 4.
Wan Rosdy told the state assembly that his administration was proud of this development because it will be the first tiger reserve in the country.
"This reserve area will be one of the carbon credit projects under the Malaysian Forest Fund scheme towards increasing our collective forest conservation efforts," he said.
According to RimbaWatch, there are two EIA reports for the Pasir Raja-Mat Daling road project titled "Environmental impact assessment Jalan Kampung Pasir Raja, Hulu Dungun, Terengganu ke sempadan Terengganu/Pahang (Fasa 3A) (reka bina)" and "Project Jalan Kg Mat Daling, Jerantut, Pahang ke sempadan Pahang/Terengganu (Fasa 3B) (reka & bina)" respectively which have been approved by the Department of Environment but never made public.
In view of this, RimbaWatch urged the government to release both documents immediately.
The EIA reports were approved before the state government decided to create the tiger reserve. - Mkini
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