Hulu Langat Park Confusion

Park confusion
Tuesday January 31, 2006

Logging at the fringes of a proposed park had villagers up in arms, writes Hilary Chiew.

SELANGOR folks, particularly the conservation-minded populace, were overjoyed when an area the size of Perlis was declared the State Heritage Park last August.

The momentous event formed part of the state’s celebration of attaining developed status. As much as 107,000ha of forested areas in the districts of Hulu Langat, Gombak and Hulu Selangor, will make up the park to be managed by the newly set-up State Park Corporation.

However, uncertainty over the park surfaced two days after the declaration by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Logging was reported by villagers living adjacent to the Hulu Langat Forest Reserve.

The Selangor Government then clarified that the Aug 27 event was merely to announce the establishment of the park. It said the process of gazetting the park area was still underway. This means the recommended park boundaries have yet to be determined and approved.

In his letter published by an English daily on Sept 16, Farush Khan from the Selangor press secretariat wrote that logging licence for the 334ha forest was approved in 2001, before the park was conceived. He further explained that the compartment approved for logging was within the production forest parcel of the reserve.

Of the 13,843ha reserve, 9,545.7ha is designated as production forest while the remaining 4,297.8ha is protected to serve 10 ecological and recreational functions.

If the public was confused, it is understandable. Media reports have implied that the park was already gazetted. Some newspapers have even quoted Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamed Khir Toyo as saying that the park has been gazetted under the State Park Enactment.

It doesn’t help when in an apparent knee-jerk reaction to the villagers’ complaint, the state issued a stop-work order with Mohd Khir proclaiming that no logging would be allowed in the heritage park.

Selangor Forestry Department director Nik Mohamed Shah Nik Mohamed said the stop-work order in September was subsequently lifted as the logging company Fungsi Mewah Sdn Bhd has a valid licence to operate from Aug 1, 2005 to July 31, 2006. He said logging activities were postponed until recently because of the rainy season.

The logging has triggered a fresh round of protest from villagers affected by lorries hauling logs on the only access road into their villages. Besides damaging the road, the lorries are a hazard to motorists, pedestrians and houses that lie just next to the road.

After visiting the site, Mohd Khir again issued a stop-work order pending investigation into the logging method which he claimed was damaging the environment. But the order was not complied with.

“More machineries were brought into the forest. We could hear trees falling in the jungle,” said Abdul Shukor Abdul Kadir, who chairs the committee formed to address the problem. He claimed that the next morning, more logs were taken out from the jungle.

Nik Mohamed Shah, however, said the loggers were clearing logs felled before the issuance of the order.

“Actual logging has not begun. The loggers were felling trees to make the logging trail to gain access to the selected trees. This is the most tricky aspect in the logging process,” he explained, referring to the scale of erosion brought by clear-felling.

Nik Mohamed Shah said initial investigations showed that the contractor has carried out work “according to specification.” He added however, that the rainy spell could have worsen the condition. He said the department would continue assessing the situation and would press charges if licensing conditions have been breached.

Mohamed Khir told a press conference after the weekly executive council meeting on Jan 18 that a decision was made to revoke the licence. Taking the weather into consideration, the logger has been given between two and four weeks to remove the remaining 300 tonnes of logs.

Angry villagers, however, are not satisfied that their village road continued to be used by the lorries. Attempts to engage the contractor Sim Swee Hin Sdn Bhd to discuss compensation claims was snubbed by the representative at the worksite on the grounds that the authority has sanctioned the log transportation.

Villagers are also suspicious that the amount taken out has exceeded the 300 tonnes as they observed more than 50 lorry-loads exiting the log yard over the weekend of Jan 21 to 22. Each lorry has a 20-tonne capacity.

Dismissing the speculations, Nik Mohamed Shah said the contractor has been instructed to reduce the load per trip thus resulting in more trips, adding that the licensor has agreed to repair the road.

He said in accordance to normal licensing procedure, the logging company is being given a grace period after its licence has expired to facilitate clearance of logs.

Questions on the status of the park faxed to the State Park Corporation director Haji Mohamad Nik went unanswered. It is learnt that the corporation has been directed to complete boundary demarcation by March.

The park was conceptualised in 1998 when the forested areas along the eastern side of Selangor were identified as Environmentally Sensitive Areas. Approximately 76% of the recommended areas lie above 300m and 9.5% above 1,000m.

Nik Mohamed Shah said the department has identified 90% of the 13 Forest Reserves which fall within the recommended park boundaries to be gazetted as park areas. A big portion of the land is above 1,000m and forms a 437 sq km watershed.

The highland is regarded as the “water tower” of the Klang Valley as it is the source of three main rivers – the Kelang, Selangor and Langat – that feed five major dams and 23 water intakes in the state, and account for 98% of its water supplies.

Inclusion of these highlands as part of the park would improve the country’s montane forest representation in its Protected Area landscape.

WWF Malaysia senior programme officer (Protected Areas) Surin Suksuwan said at the moment the whole of the Main Range is left out of national and state parks.

“It is also important to protect more areas above 300m in light of the tremendous pressure on lowland forests (between 0 and 300m),” he said. -- The Star.