LETTER | Why is DBKL cutting down perfectly good trees in Taman Seputeh?
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LETTER | In Malaysia, warnings by conservationists that we have been losing our forest cover have been ringing in our ears for decades. Unfortunately, the problem has always seemed remote as we are constantly told that our nation’s devastating forest loss is the result of unsustainable logging and palm oil cultivation – activities that take place far away from urban areas, adversely impacting indigenous people and endangering animals like the
orang utan, sun bear, pygmy elephant and clouded leopard.
This is no longer the case as the high profits for timber, poor government regulation and corruption have brought the problem closer to our doorstep than we dare imagine. On April 12, 2021, this was made brutally clear to me when I accosted a logging truck carrying the remains of a felled hardwood tree felled from a playground in Taman Seputeh, right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur.
FEDERAL Territories Ministry has embarked on a massive tree-planting exercise that will see 900,000 trees being planted in Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya in the next four years.
Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said the initiative, to be carried out in phases starting this year, was in line with the campaign launched by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to plant 100 million trees in Malaysia within the same period.
He added that the 100 trees planted near the Batu water retention pond in Sentul was the first batch of the project carried out by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and Putrajaya Corporation.
“The early stages of implementation will focus on seven lakes and ponds located in the northern part of Kuala Lumpur.
FEDERAL Territories Ministry will use the RM20mil allocation from the Federal Government for maintenance and upgrades of people’s housing (PPR) and public housing (PA) projects in the city.
Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he and Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Mahadi Che Ngah would meet the PPR and PA residents associations to find out their needs.
Annuar said consulting the residents for input was vital, instead of implementing what the authorities assumed would be good for them.
“We must do what the people want and not just what we want to do for them, ” he said.
He assured that approval for the necessary projects would be issued immediately to ensure the contractors’ work would not be delayed.