KUALA BERANG: The Terengganu Forestry Department has taken swift action by temporarily halting logging activities in the area near Kenyir Lake near here, which is alleged to be the cause of water at Sungai Lasir Waterfall turning murky.

State Tourism, Culture and Information Technology Committee deputy chairman Sulaiman Sulong said it was understood that logging activities in an area about four kilometres upstream of Sungai Lasir had been halted as soon as the pollution issue was reported in newspapers and social media.

According to him, the operation is stopped temporarily until the waterfall, which is the focus of tourists to Kenyir Lake, is pristine again.

"The Forestry Department has taken immediate alternative actions to ensure that the logging activities around four kilometres from upstream of Sungai Lasir can be prevented or minimised.

"At the same time, the heavy rain is also believed to cause the water to turn murky," he told reporters after officiating the closing ceremony of the tour guide course at Kenyir Lake, yesterday afternoon.

Sulaiman was commenting on a newspaper report yesterday claiming that the water at the Sungai Lasir Waterfall recreation forest at Kenyir Lake is murky, believed due to logging activities in a nearby area.

Meanwhile, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, in his statement yesterday, said the issue of murky water in Lake Kenyir was due to heavy rain and not because of logging activities.

He was reported to have said that all activities related to forestry and logging all forest and logging activities were bound by the set conditions including a suitable distance between the logging area and body of water.

-- BERNAMA