KUALA LUMPUR – A Chinese construction company behind land-clearing works in Selangor’s forest reserves for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project faced enforcement action last year for not abiding by standard operating procedures, according to state government staffer Jay Jay Denis.
China Communications Construction Company (M) Sdn Bhd (CCCC) had indeed secured a permit to work on the ECRL, but began work for that portion of the project in Selangor in December last year before receiving approval from the state Forestry Department.
“They (CCCC) thought that they could go ahead with work just because they have the permit, but they actually needed to make an application to the department to notify authorities that they will be starting work.
“This is so that the department can send personnel to the site to ensure that correct parts of the forests are being carved out,” he told The Vibes when contacted.
The special officer to Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari added that the enforcement action taken against the company in December included a fine and a stop-work order which has since been lifted.
“The company was notified in December that they will have to go through the right procedural channels to begin work in the future.
“If (CCCC) had no permit to operate then, there would definitely have been further legal action, but the issue then was just that they did not provide a notice (to the department),” he said.
Denis’ comments come after state executive councillor Hee Loy Sian yesterday said that the department had issued a use permit in July 2022 for the implementation of the ECRL project in the permanent forest reserve area.
The state Environment, Green Technology, Tourism and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman also said that the approval of the environmental impact assessment report for Section C2 (Gombak-Serendah-Port Klang) was obtained by Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, the Finance Ministry entity administering the ECRL project, on November 30, 2021.
Amirudin, however, had earlier said that the land-clearing works in the state’s forest reserves were done “without approval”, noting that a police report was lodged against CCCC last December.
Clarifying the matter, Denis said that Amirudin was referring to a lack of approval from the state Forestry Department to begin clearing state land, not the absence of a permit to work on the project.
Amirudin and Hee had been responding to environmental watchdog group Rimba Disclosure Project, which raised an alarm over the land clearing.
A spokesman for CCCC told The Vibes that the company had obtained all necessary approvals and permits from the relevant authorities to proceed with the project.
On December 21, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the overall cost to complete the ECRL project is now RM74.96 billion, a RM11.01 billion reduction from the originally set price of RM85.97 billion when the project was launched in 2017.
He said that the government will proceed with the project to construct the 665km-long rail system from Kota Baru in Kelantan to Port Klang in Selangor. – The Vibes, February 6, 2023
