KUALA LUMPUR: The company behind the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) project has withdrawn its bid for three environmental groups to pay it RM52.5 million in damages if they lose their legal action to halt related construction works at the Ampang Forest Park.
Lawyer Michael Yap, who represented company EKVE Sdn Bhd, confirmed his client retracted the undertaking application during case management in the chambers of High Court judge Datuk Hanipah
Farikullah today.
The company had initially sought the undertaking because the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and two other environmental groups originally sought a fresh court order to temporarily halt the construction works pending disposal of their legal challenge.
However, the company withdrew the undertaking application today when MNS and the other two groups - Treat Every Environment Special Sdn Bhd (TEES) and Association for the Protection of Natural Heritage of Malaysia (PEKA) - retracted their bid for interim construction ban on
July 20.
On May 11, the High Court had issued a temporary order barring construction works to maintain status quo in the matter pending disposal of the three environmental groups' judicial review application. That order expired on July 20.
The merits of the judicial review application would be heard by the High Court on Oct 10.
MNS, TEES and PEKA seek to quash the Jan 9 decision by the Selangor state government and two other respondents to close the Ampang Forest Park for three years, from Jan 5 this year to May 5, 2019.
The other two respondents are the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) and the state Forestry Department.
The Ampang Forest Park is the main public access to Gombak's Ampang Forest Reserve, which was gazetted as a permanent forest reserve in 1913 and became part of the Selangor State Park in 2007.
The EKVE project involves a proposed toll highway connecting Bandar Sungai Long, Kajang, and Ukay Perdana, Ampang.
MNS, TEES and PEKA seek to nullify the authorisation by the Selangor Forestry Department, MPAJ and the state government for the construction works and related logging in the Ampang Forest Reserve, among others.
They claimed that construction works in the Ampang Forest Reserve threatened the biological diversity and balance of the Selangor State Park, via destruction of its unique habitat for endangered animals such as tigers, tapirs, Malayan sun bears, leopards and Sumatran serows (species of goat-antelope).