Our permanent forest reserves left untouched, says Guan Eng

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang state government has defended its forest reserve status following criticism that it is losing its greenery.

“It is not true that we are losing our greenery or logging our permanent forest reserves. There are many states that have logged their permanent forest reserves,” Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said.

“Even Perlis, which is the smallest state, has also touched its permanent forest reserves.

“We are the only state that has not,” he told reporters in Komtar yesterday.

Lim was responding to Penang MCA chairman Datuk Tan Teik Cheng’s statement on Tuesday that the state should heed comments expressing concern over the rate of hill clearing in the island.

Lim maintained that Penang was a state which looked after its permanent forest reserves, and added that the only time the state cleared areas near hill slopes was to build roads for the benefit of the people.

“Many misunderstood the clearing near the Paya Terubong Paired Road. We only needed a small portion of the land to cut through areas near some hill slopes to build parts of the paired road to help ease congestion along Jalan Paya Terubong,” he said.

Lim hoped that Opposition parties in Penang would not dispute the state government’s commitment to protect and preserve its permanent forest reserves.

On the Paya Terubong Paired Road that costs the Penang Island City Council almost RM275mil, he said no permanent forest reserve was touched.

Yesterday, The Star carried Teik Cheng’s comments where he cited Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw’s social media postings on Penang island.

In Seng Giaw’s post on Sunday, he remarked that “the coast is changing and Balik Pulau is less green”.

This post by Seng Giaw, said Teik Cheng, “hit the nail on the head of the state government led by his party comrade, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng”.