Upon noticing land clearing activities at a forested area in Bukit Cerakah, residents of Bukit Bayu in Section 10 of Shah Alam were moved to action to stop the potential development.
This comes as no notifications on the land development nor any signboard providing information on the clearing activities were seen at the site, revealed the Association of Owners and Residents of Bukit Bayu (Persatuan Pemilik dan Penduduk Bukit Bayu).
Measuring about five to six hectares, the land – wherein clearing activities such as rock explosions and tree felling were spotted on Monday (18 June) – used to be part of the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve but was de-gazetted by the former state government, reported The Edge.
Determined to know more details on the activities and the status of land, the residents conducted some investigations by going to the Majlis Bandaraya Shah Alam (MBSA), the Petaling Land District Office and the Forestry Department, revealed Fahri Haminuzin, one of the Bukit Bayu residents, at a press conference.
Although no information was obtained regarding the land title, the residents found out that the land was owned by a company known as Usaha Semarak Sdn Bhd, said Nazri Elias, who is also a resident of Bukit Bayu.
“However, it is not clear that whether the company has paid the land premium or not. Because if the premium has not been paid, the land technically still belongs to state government.”
“We also sent an email to MBSA and, surprisingly, MBSA told us this is under the Forestry Department. But the Forestry Department replied in an email that this is under MBSA,” shared Fahri. “So where do we go now? We just don’t know where we are heading.”
With this, Kota Anggerik assemblyman Najwan Halimi pledged to support the residents in protecting the forested area as well as propose to the Selangor government to gazette the said land as a permanent forest reserve area.
“We have to check the status first. We are not sure if the jurisdiction [of the land] is under the Forestry Department [or the local council],” he said, adding that he will also request the MBSA to stop the ongoing land clearing activities.
“I can also highlight this in the Dewan [Negeri Selangor] and ask the Department of Environment to rectify this issue,” he added.
Image sourced from Edge Property
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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