Musang King project in Sik to continue - Kedah MB
BALING - The musang king project in the Teloi Permanent Forest Reserve in Sik will be continued.
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said this was because it had already received the greenlight from the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report.
However, he addmitted that there were risks involved as reported by the committee that had been established to carry out research on its environmental impact.
"I read the report from the committee established in Sik, there may be risks but we hope there isn't any.
"EIA has the expertise and authority to study and review it and if there was big risks it may have not been approved (the project) but they have already planted it and there is an EIA, so we can go ahead with it," he said.
Muhammad Sanusi said this after officiating the Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Flood Victims' Housing Project after the flood tragedy in Lata Celak Kampung Iboi at Desa Keda Kampung Sadek here today.
On the same topic, he also said pictures of Teloi Permanent Forest Reserve being cleared in media reports were not accurate. He said results of the latest checks done by committees involved led by the Sik district officials showed the area was covered with plants.
"The district officials have established a committee, has visited places at risk, Sik has terrains not as high as Gunung Inas.
"It is a hilly area but it is not very high, the distance to the nearest village is more than two kilometres," he said.
Sanusi claims that the pictures shown through media reports that the permanent forest reserve had been deforested due to the musang king plantation project involved was not true.
"It is not deforested like the (media) images, that is an old picture. There are newer pictures than that," he said.
Previously, media reports claimed that the project in the Teloi Permanent Forest, Sik, were at risk following the water surge incident as what happened in Gunung Inas, Kupang, Baling last month.
The water surge in Kampung Iboi on July 4 killed three people after being swept away by the fast currents with over 12 villages affected.
