Reforestation underway at Tembeling Tekai HEP site

He said re-planting of forest cover at the abandoned site is being undertaken since the federal government cancelled the dam project on Nov 8, 2019, five years into its construction.

"I was informed that logging works were started in stages and up till 2019, an area as wide as 9,896.29 hectares had been deforested for the said project.

"On Nov 8, 2019, the federal government cancelled this project and a notification to the Energy Commission regarding the cancellation was sent on Nov 29, 2019. Tenaga Nasional Berhad subsequently issued a statement on the project's cancellation in a letter of notice on Jan 8, 2020.

"Following this, it must be emphasised that cancellation of this project comes five years after land clearing at the site, hence the groundwork left a significantly visible impact (on forest cover) with a huge footprint," he said in a media statement on his Facebook page today.

Mohd Sharkar said state government approval for construction of the project was obtained on March 19, 2012, followed by technical approval from the Energy Commission on July 2, 2012, Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) on April 20, 2016 and the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) on Dec 27, 2016.

According to him, the state government is committed to forest conservation after the project was cancelled, and on March 25 (2021), the state had signed a reforestation contract with a private company to restore the forest cover.

"Re-planting works is now going on. The Pahang state government reiterates its commitment to conservation and rehabilitation of the forest in the state," he said.

A local news portal prior to this reported that the said project (Tembeling Tekai HEP) is one of six electric power projects cancelled by the (then) Pakatan Harapan government.

The news report said it has come too late as satellite pictures showed destruction of the jungle cover at the Tekai Forest Reserve in Pahang.