KUANTAN – The Pahang government is in the process of collecting fines from companies involved with its forest plantation projects for failing to comply with the prescribed conditions, including not replanting after clearing their lots, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.
Wan Rosdy said during the state assembly session in Wisma Sri Pahang, here, today that the claim that the state government did not collect fines from the relevant companies is inaccurate.
He said the companies had given various excuses during the fine collection process.
Wan Rosdy also said the state government had met with the Pahang National Audit Department to present information regarding the matter to refute some inaccurate findings about the implementation of the state’s forest plantation projects in the Auditor-General’s Report 2021.
“Following that, the state government wrote a letter to the National Audit Department’s director to make a presentation, because there are things that are inaccurate, and there are contradictions that we feel need to be stated,” he said, claiming some of the information in the report was old ones that do not reflect the real situation.
Wan Rosdy was responding to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PN-Cheka), who wanted to know what action is being taken against companies that failed to comply with the conditions of forest plantations, which caused the state to experience leakage of revenue.
Tuan Ibrahim who is also the state opposition leader said there were 33 companies involved in the project, however, he claimed only 5% of the area allotted for forest plantations was replanted, adding millions of ringgit in fines should be imposed on the errant companies.
Replying to a question on the permanent forest reserve areas that have been degazetted and the state government’s measures to replace them, Wan Rosdy said that last year, the total area that was gazetted as the state’s permanent forest reserve was 2,578ha compared to 1,183ha that was degazetted.
He said based on the state Forestry Department’s record, as of December, Pahang has 1.59 million ha gazetted under its permanent forest reserve, equivalent to 44.37% of the total area in the state. – Bernama, May 12, 2023
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