Kedah MB clears air over logging and felling

ALOR SETAR: Kedah has not given any fresh approval for logging since the current state government came to power in May last year, Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said today.

He also said that the approval for logging in 200 hectares of the Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve in Sik was given to Yayasan Islam Kedah in 2017 but it obtained the felling licence only at the end of last year.

"I wish to inform that logging takes a long time. Some concessions approved in 2005 are still in the process of being licensed for felling. The signboards carry the date of the felling licence and not the date of logging approval," he explained to reporters after chairing a meeting of the State Executive Council, here.

Sanusi was responding to recent allegations by several quarters, including NGOs, in the social media that the current state government had approved the logging in Bukit Enggang.

He said the state government cannot withdraw the felling licence even if it was recently obtained as this would result in huge financial implications as the concessionaire can sue the state government over payments made.

He also said that approval had been given for logging in 75,000 hectares in the state since 2014 and that the annual felling quota for Kedah set by the National Land Council is 4,000 hectares.

-- BERNAMA