Owners of cleared land sought

The Star, Friday July 12, 2013 

By JADE CHAN
Photos by NORAFIFI EHSAN

Barren land: A team of MPKj officers from the Enforcement, Planning and Engineering Departments conducting a site inspection of the Sungai Tekali forest area where illegal land clearing has taken place.

THE Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) will work with the Hulu Langat District and Land Office to serve notices to landowners of the Sungai Tekali forest area where illegal land clearing has taken place.

“MPKj carried out an inspection on July 4 and found evidence of illegal site clearing works in the area,” said MPKj president Datuk Hasan Nawawi Abd Rahman.

“The affected area covers 28 lots of land measuring 22.7ha. Before issuing notices or compounds to the offenders, we need to check on their names and addresses with the Hulu Langat District and Land Office.”

Following StarMetro’s exclusive story on illegal felling of rubber trees, land clearing and soil erosion at Sungai Tekali yesterday, MPKj went to the site to stop the operators.

“The compounds will be issued for illegal clearing or earth works.

“The notices will be served by the Planning Department under the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 for illegal development or the Engineering Department under the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 for illegal earth works, or both.” he said.

Section 27 (6) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 carries a fine of not more than RM100,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both. It also carries a fine of up to RM5,000 for each day of development works.

Offenders who have been issued a notice under Section 70 (a) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974 will have to pay a compound of RM25,000, and a fine not exceeding RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both if found guilty.

Nawawi said the site where illegal land-clearing works had taken place was agriculture land, but had been re-zoned for housing and industry use.

“MPKj will serve the compounds soon and the landowners will be asked to stop work and rehabilitate the site.

“If the offenders ignore the notices and continue with their land clearing operations, legal action will be taken.”

A stop-work order was also issued on an excavator operator, who was found clearing trees at one of the sites during a check by a team of MPKj officers from the Enforcement, Planning and Engineering Depart-ments yesterday.

Illegal logging exposes large tract of Sungai Tekali forest to soil erosion

The Star, Thursday July 11, 2013

By YIP YOKE TENG
Photos by SAM THAM

Plain apathy: Terracing within the illegal logging site in Jalan Sungai Tekali is exposed to the weather, drawing concerns to soil erosion.

The exemption of royalty on rubberwood logging may have helped to boost commercial development of the agricultural commodity but it has also caused severe damage to the environment, with more problems brewing.

StarMetro discovered that a large tract of land in the Sungai Tekali forest area, Hulu Langat, has been cleared.

Rubber trees are being felled and the timber sold at a sawmill at the site.

A check with the Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) revealed that both the sawmill and the clearing of land being carried out are illegal.

A spokesman from the council said the planning department had a rude shock too when the matter was brought to their attention because 28 lots of land, with a combined area of 22.7ha, had been cleared.

He said the council would be issuing notices to stop the unscrupulous operators.

Environmentalist Lim Teck Wyn, who was present during the site visit by StarMetro, pointed out that the site was being abused, with no control on soil erosion.

The site where logging is being carried out is hidden from view by hoardings and the area next to it, which has signs of sand-mining activities, is left abandoned.

Through the hoardings, one can see the sawmill, piles of rubber tree logs as well as the now-bare hill terraces where rubber trees used to be.

Worse still, with no rehabilitation measures taken, the banks of a stream running through the cleared land are on the verge of collapse, and could cause flooding and mud slides.

Rubberwood, usually used as fuelwood, has become a major source of revenue for the Malaysian timber industry. It is a popular wood for making furniture and other products.

The logging royalty for rubberwood is, therefore, exempted to benefit the country’s economy. However, the policy that has been in place for about 20 years has also brought about negative consequences.

Lim said the problem of rubberwood logging was widespread and the relevant authorities were lax in carrying out enforcement measures.

“Even though royalty is exempted, the operators still need a licence from the Forestry Department to log rubberwood.

“However, the authorities have not been stern enough in enforcing the law. This could be due to the fact that there is no incentive, since the royalty is waived,” he said.

Apart from stricter enforcement, he suggested that the Government consider increasing the royalty to protect the environment.

“Its damage to the environment is the same as other logging activities. It can cause flooding, soil erosion, water pollution and landslide if the area is too steep,” he said.

“This policy must be reviewed as more than 40,000ha of Latex Timber Clone (LTC) plantations have been identified for logging under the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA). Also, the replanting plans must be closely monitored,” he said.

LTC is a rubber tree species that produces a good yield of latex as well as timber, but the latter is given priority in view of the high demand for various industrial purposes.

Lim highlighted that apart from the Forestry Department, the Environment Department could also help monitor the situation as the state director had the power to request for an Environmental Impact Assessment on a logging site measuring more than 500ha, or if the site was in a sensitive area.

Even sanctioned logging of rubberwood had been reported to have caused much suffering to the surrounding population.

A large portion of secondary forests in Johor, especially near the Endau-Rompin National Park, has been cleared for LTC plantations.

Since 2009, there have been reports on increased flooding, damaged natural habitat for wildlife such as tigers and elephants, and reduction of water catchment areas in the state.

The Malaysian Nature Society is still up in arms against the policy whereby a forest reserve does not need to be degazetted if trees are felled and replaced with LTC for the production of timber, despite the damage such actions cause to the biodiversity.