KULIM: There is a possibility that the joint-venture company which developed the 'Musang King' durian plantation in Gunung Inas did not carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before going ahead with the massive durian-farming project.
Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the EIA approval requires strict compliance, including disallowing any development project at a height of 300 metres above sea level.
Sanusi said his administration was unsure as to how such project had obtained approval, which prompted his administration to issue the company with a stop-work order in July 2020.
"I believe that every plantation requires an EIA (report). How was the EIA approved? There is a regulation in the law which states that any highland ground over 1,000 feet (304 metres) must not be touched.
"However, during my observation yesterday, there were no timber trees at the peak of the hill. The logging was done up at the highest peak. This must be explained by the relevant department.
"I do not know how the project was given to forest farming, there should be an EIA. There are many strict regulations to be complied with in order to obtain approval," he said.
Sanusi was speaking to reporters after officiating the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of Infineon Technologies Kulim Sdn Bhd's production facility here today.
Sanusi said that in 2007, the state government had given approval to Aman Mega Sdn Bhd to develop a rubber plantation but the company had failed to carry on with the project in 2008.
"During that time, Ustaz Azizan (former menteri besar, late Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak) decided that the company had no right to the logs that it had felled.
"So, the company abandoned the project before Kedah Agro managed to plant rubber trees covering some 161ha of the compartment.
"In 2013, after the change of state government, the plantation was halted and the land ownership exchanged hands with a condition that it must be jointly-developed with Kedah Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) with some payments involved.
"We need to check first the latest company that owns the land and initiated the Musang King plantation, since this has been going on for sometime and keeps on changing," he said.
Asked to comment on calls for the state to form an commission to investigate the Gunung Inas water column phenomenon on Monday, Sanusi said there was no need for that as all relevant departments and agencies were preparing their report over the incident.