Johor Pakatan warns of environmental woes in Forest City project
The Forest City project which will see massive land reclamation in the Straits of Johor and the changing of coastal areas has not addressed the loss of livelihood faced by indigenous people in the area, the Johor Pakatan Rakyat Research Centre (Joprec) said today.
Joprec chief executive Dr Boo Cheng Hau today said the Orang Selatar community from Kampung Simpang Arang by the straits would see their traditional lifestyle destroyed, and that no solutions had been provided for them.
"There are only about 1,200 Orang Selatar in the whole world. They have a very unique culture and they live on the sea, fishing to make a living," he said.
"The government has not provided solutions in terms of relocation and composition to ensure the continuation of their livelihoods," he said at a press conference today after a meeting with the Department of Environment in Putrajaya.
Malaysia is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and should therefore address the issue, he added.
Boo, who is also the Johor state assembly opposition leader, said that before the project's Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) was approved, a causeway had been constructed for the purpose of transporting materials like sand and soil needed for the reclamation site, cutting through critical areas.
"It cuts through the Merambung seagrass meadows causing permanent destruction, destroying the fisheries industry of the area.
"Johor supplies about 40% of seafood in Malaysia. If this particular area is destroyed, we expect a decrease in seafood supply of about 12%," the DAP Skudai assemblyman said.
About a hundred native families depending on such jobs in the fishing industry for their bread and butter would be affected, he said.
Aside from impacting the fishing industry, Boo also warned of other environmental concerns such as rising sea water levels and floods as the project would risk sacrificing one third of the mangrove forest reserves in the area.
"The computer-model water flow simulation is not clear actually, the architectural appearance and how it may affect Johor Baru is also not included in the DEIA," he added.
The Forest City project entails the reclamation and development of a large area in the Straits of Johor and the construction of four man-made islands.
The project, expected to cost around RM600 billion, has been scaled down to 592 hectares from 1,386 hectares earlier. It was originally planned for development on a 1,978 hectare site.
Boo met the director-general of the DOE Datuk Halimah Hassan today, along with Bakri MP Er Teck Hwa, Tan Hong Pin, the Mengkibol assemblyman, Green Earth Society president P. Sivakumar and DAP Taman Perling Branch chairman Desmond Foo.
They submitted a 17-point review on the project to the DOE.
The 2-hour session saw a discussion and review of Joprec’s findings on the flaws in the DEIA, which the group also said contained incomplete assessments.
Boo said the DOE did not tell them when it would respond to their findings, but said it would refer some of the issues to the Johor government.
"We previously raised some of these issues in the state assembly. However, they were not addressed," he said, adding that their goal was to ensure sustainable development of the project.
"We were told that there will be entertainment avenues built such as horse-racing and Formula 1 race tracks. All this is not sustainable."
The project's developer, Country Garden Pacific View, has vowed to preserve the environment.
Its executive director Datuk Md Othman Yusof was quoted as saying, "We are here for the long term and we will comply with whatever decisions set by the government."
The project was halted for seven months since last June and the Malaysian-Chinese joint-venture company was instructed to submit a detailed environmental impact assessment. The DOE approved the report in January. – February 27, 2015.
