THE Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve is expected to be re-gazetted before Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said that 97% of the land will be re-gazetted as a forest reserve while the remaining 3% will be for Orang Asli villages.
“A few hundred acres will be used to build Orang Asli villages,” he was quoted as saying by media outlets at a press conference at the launch of Pasar PJKITA at Sri Damansara today (March 25).
Previously a coalition of environmental rights non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had called on the Selangor state government to fulfil its promise to regazette the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve.
The Defend the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve coalition demanded that the regazetting be carried out immediately and without any conditions.
“We demand that the Menteri Besar carry out this promise to regazette 1,222 acres (495ha) at once and to stop stalling,” the coalition said in a statement on March 15.
“As it is, the initial degazettement was highly unpopular, with immense protests from Orang Asli communities, Selangor elected representatives, the Federal Government and the public.”
Co-signed by 16 NGOs including the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, Global Environment Centre, Greenpeace Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society, Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Suaram, the coalition also reiterated that it did not accept Amirudin’s earlier statement that there is a need to keep part of the forest to continue the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
“The urgent timeline to protect this forest during this time of an obvious climate crisis and ongoing environmental degradation cannot be linked to the timeline of an infrastructure project that may take years to develop,” it stressed.
