Flood not caused by logging
KOTA KINABALU: The Forestry Department has refuted the allegation that the flooding of Sungai Pampang in Keningau was caused by logging at the catchment area in the Crocker Range.
Datuk Sam Mannan, the Chief Conservator of Forests, yesterday said the allegation had appeared in the social media made by individuals who were completely ignorant of what was going on the ground.
"These allegations are not true and are simply wild accusations," he said in a statement yesterday.
He pointed out that the source of Sungai Pampang originates in the Crocker Range Park (140,000 ha), which is largely pristine forests and have never been logged.
There are patches of encroachments and shifting cultivations leading to the Park for agriculture purposes such as rubber and rice.
Mannan said the river also flows through various settlements and eventually passes through Keningau town.
During the dry season, the river is merely a creek with weak flows of water.
Nevertheless, convenient access to the riverine and flat terrain have attracted squatters to build illegal houses on its banks and even inside the river itself.
At one time, since the Greg Storm of 1996, notices were given to squatters to vacate the banks and to dismantle the various settlements. The area is unsuitable for human occupation and is a riparian reserve.
Unfortunately, it would appear that nothing happened and the squatter settlements reappeared and continued to expand.
The locating of houses/huts on the banks is an invitation for disaster as floods are a natural phenomenon therein.
The 1996 (Greg Storm) was an example with many loss of lives, he said.
Mannan added the Crocker Range is the most important and largest source of water for the West Coast and Interior. But with incessant rains, its water holding capacity would have been exceeded and excess water would have to be dispersed somehow, by flowing into river channels etc. including Sungai Pampang.
"This is the large source of water that caused the current flooding. It is a repeat of 1996.
"The excess flow from surface run off is a natural phenomenon – but building houses inside or beside a river, is not. It is a call for death and disaster," he said.