MANJUNG – Turtle landings and ecotourism activities as well as the physical structure of Pasir Panjang beach will be destroyed if the state government does not re-gazette the area, said Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).
SAM field researcher Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman said that the area was degazetted on February 2, 1989 and since then, various tree planting programmes had been implemented before being threatened by an illegal sand extraction project since last November.
He said several non-governmental organisations have filed a complaint against the illegal activity on November 4.
“The community in the area said that the authorities entered the area in early December and thought actions had been taken but were shocked to see movement of sand mining machinery in the area, which has been fenced on December 28,” he said.
We went to the area two days ago and found that trees in the forest area had been cut down to make way for heavy vehicles to transport the extracted sand out of the area. Cut trees were piled up in addition to environmental destruction. This is very sad,” he said.
He told this to reporters in a media conference yesterday at the site, about 91km from Ipoh.
Also present were villagers from the surrounding area, who held a peaceful protest against the sand mining project.
Meor Razak claimed that to date, about 30% of the 130-ha area had been encroached upon and it was feared that this would affect the turtle landing site, the coastal ecosystems as well as animals such as the sun bear and their natural habitats.
He said based on the National Physical Plan, all turtle landing sites on the peninsula including along Pasir Panjang beach were categorised as a Rank 1 ESA (environmentally sensitive area), which can only be used for activities involving low-impact tourism, education and research.
Checks by Bernama found felled trees, piles of wood as well as the presence of three sand dredgers in the area which had been marked with barricade tapes by the authorities.
Bernama previously reported that the Manjung Municipal Council had not received any application for the sand mining activity and had issued a stop-work order against the project. – Bernama, January 5, 2022
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