With 53.94 percent or 38,418.77ha of the district still covered by permanent reserve forest, Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail is satisfied that the land use in Cameron Highlands remains at a reasonable rate.
He revealed that the other 13,568.36ha of the highlands is comprised of government land, 5,933.04ha by orang asli settlements, 5,655.27ha by reserve land and 5,242.16ha by titled lots.
This comes as the Pahang state government had limited land exploration by freezing the issuance of new temporary occupation licence (TOL) for the district, reported The Star.
The freeze applied even for agricultural purposes by vegetable and fruit farmers.
“This decision has been undertaken since Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob was the mentri besar, to protect the environment of Cameron Highlands that has a land area of 71,225ha,” said Wan Rosdy.
“The freeze has been in place for 10 years now and it is still continued during my tenure.”
He was responding to the recommendation of Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar that the Perak and Pahang state governments cease from issuing new land exploration permits for agriculture and development in the highlands.
Wan Rosdy, however, noted that the approval for development should be referred to the state executive council – which grants the approval for proposed development projects in Cameron Highlands, including those below 4.05ha.
“The proposed project has to be submitted to the economic planning division of the State Secretary’s Office for scrutiny by the technical committee made up of various departments including the Department of Environment,” he said.
“If getting this approval is already so difficult in that it is being filtered carefully by the technical committee; once approval is granted, the developer still has to ensure all conditions and rules related to sensitive areas like Cameron Highlands are followed.”
Failure to do so could lead to fines, issuance of stop-work order as well as project cancellation.
Image Source: The Star
This article was edited by the editorial team of PropertyGuru. To contact them about this or other stories email editorialteam@propertyguru.com.my
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