KOTA BHARU: The Kelantan government has cancelled the forest plantation contracts involving an area of 12,000 hectares after the companies that signed the agreements failed to deliver.

Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob said, apart from that, the state government also forfeited their deposits and imposed fines against the irresponsible companies.

"We are opening new tenders to companies that are keen on redeveloping the project," he said when answering a supplementary question from Datuk Mohd Adhan Kechik (BN-Bukit Bunga) at the 14th Kelantan State Assembly sitting here today.

Mohd Adhan wanted to know the size of the area that had been allocated by the government for the forest plantation project.

Ahmad, who is also the Pasir Pekan assemblyman, said a total of 199,000 hectares of the Forest Plantation Development Zone in the Permanent Forest Reserve (HSK) in Kelantan had been approved by the National Land Council meeting on Aug 9, 2012.

-- BERNAMA