Almost 600 wood-based industries (WBI) in Selangor have been found to be operating without a valid licence from the state

authorities this year.

The assistant director of operations and enforcement of the Selangor Forestry Department, Mohd Yussainy Md Yusop, said the department was looking into the problem seriously and appropriate action would be taken to address it.

"Only 263 of the WBI were licensed to operate in the state up to October this year," he told Bernama today.

He said the department was endeavouring to trace illegal factories in Selangor, including carrying out integrated operations with other enforcement agencies such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and the Malaysian People's Volunteer Corps (Rela) continuously.

He said that so far, action had been taken against 17 illegal factories, of which 15 had been compounded a total of RM200,000 while two others had been charged in court.

Mohd Yussainy said the illegal wood-based factories had posed a serious problem because many of them were built on agricultural land whereas the condition to set up a factory required that it would be built on industrial land.

"Industrial land in Selangor is costly, so they take the easy way out by setting up their factories in the jungle or in other words, on agricultural land which would save cost," he said.

He also said that the Wood-Based Industry Enactment 1985 (Amendment 2010) had been passed by the Selangor state legislative assembly yesterday and it was hoped that it could give a positive implication to the wood-based industry.

- Bernama