GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government today said it had gazetted all its water catchment areas by 2004, in response to a claim by Putrajaya that the state was the only one in the country that had yet to do so.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said Penang was the earliest to mark its water catchment forests, compared with other states in the peninsula, under state laws.
He said as of Dec 2, 2004, 6,288ha of forests had been gazetted, 70% of which were permanent forest reserves.
Chow said Putrajaya’s claims were due to a new requirement that states gazette water catchment areas under federal law — the National Forestry Act 1984 — upon instruction by the National Land Council in August 2019.
He said the state had since worked on it, but was delayed due to the pandemic. He said the Penang Forestry Department expected to gazette the catchment areas under federal law by June 2021.
“On Dec 2 this year, the state executive council approved 3,790ha of permanent forest reserves to be placed under the Act, which was 5% more than what we had already gazetted before.
“The newly approved gazetted area was never gazetted before, even under state law in 2004, so this is new. We are also proud to say that we have not logged our forests since 1972,” he said.
The issue was raised after Chow, who is also Tanjong MP, had asked Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man on the status of 25,000ha of “replacement water catchment forests” promised by Kedah to balance out forests given out for logging.
Tuan Ibrahim, in response, said Penang was the only state in the country which had yet to gazette its water catchment forests, while Kedah had already gazetted 110,000ha of its forests.
On the phasing out of the old Penang ferries, Chow said Putrajaya should consider buying newer versions of the old ferries, besides opting for water buses.
He said if the federal government had the ability to buy new catamarans, it might as well buy ones that had the old design of the ferry – or replicas – so as to maintain the heritage and tourism icon of the state.
“No harm in buying new ferries. If you are going to spend RM30 million for catamarans, then why not consider RM90 million to buy newer versions of the iconic ferries?” he asked.
Asked about news that the finance minister had said the old ferry service would be retained, he said he was unaware of it.
Meanwhile, Chow said police would now allow lorries carrying produce and groceries to enter the Paya Terubong/Relau enhanced movement control order area, after complaints by residents that many shops were out of stock for many items.
The two localities have been declared as red zone areas and a lockdown began on Dec 7. It is expected to end on Dec 20.