An opposition leader is calling for the resignation of Kedah state government officials involved in the proposed heli-logging project near the northern region's prime water catchment area.

Keadilan supreme council member Cheah Kah Peng said that the state should be made accountable and responsible for their misplanning as logging about 36 percent of the forests near the Ulu Muda dams "was not o­nly outrageously ambitious but also illegal".

"The basic logic here is that the Kedah government has no right to sell out the eco-system of the Kedahans, Perlisans and Penangites," Cheah told malaysiakini.

"The Kedah state government has no right to disrupt the geological structures, which would eventually bring about havoc and disasters to the lives of the region's inhabitants who rely o­n the water from these areas for their livelihood," added Cheah, who is also the party's deputy Penang chief.

Ban announced

On Monday, Primary Industries Minister Dr Lim Keng Yaik announced the ban o­n all types of logging, including the Kedah government's heli-logging proposal, to preserve water quality in the 122,798-hectare area where timber was to have been harvested. The state will be compensated.

The catchment areas in the three major dams - Pedu, Muda and Aning - supply water to Perlis, Kedah and Penang.

Logging near the dam sites was expected to affect at least 80 percent of Penang's water supply.

Local residents like the 60,000-odd fishing people and padi farmers have lamented that the activity assigned to WTK Holdings Berhad, a Sarawakian timber company, would also destroy their livelihood.

It is learnt that the Penang government had expressed its reservations over the project as the state had allocated about RM300 million to build pipelines and improve local dams to improve the state's water supply.

According to a government insider, Penang chief minister Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon had received a bleak report o­n the matter from the state water department.

However, Cheah said, it was indeed a surprise how the Penang chief minister and his state executive councillors could have failed to see this damage, despite being pressured for a year by the opposition, civil society groups and non-government organisations.

"We, in the BA, were so concerned for the people in these regions that we had our leaders lodging police reports over the matter since April last year," he added.

Not long after the local media reported the issue of heli-logging in the Kedah water catchment area o­n March 27 last year, BA had their Kedah representatives - Keadilan Lunas state assemblyman Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and PAS Pokok Sena member of Parliament Mahfuz Omar - lodged a report with the Anti-Corruption Agency.

No response

Cheah said it was unfortunate that even after a year, the police and ACA have yet to come up with anything.

He said the efficiency rate of the two institution was virtually zero because the investigation was not transparent and it was uncertain if any investigation was conducted at all.

"Since there were no answers from both the police and the ACA, Keadilan and PAS attempted to move an emergency motion to debate the effects of privatised heli-logging project in the Kedah state assembly last month but the motion was rejected by the ruling party," he said.

Meanwhile, WTK Holdings, when interviewed early this year, said it had taken the utmost care to ensure that the environment was protected from the ''ravages'' of logging activities.

An official in the company told malaysiakini that he would recommend heli-logging as it was less damaging to the environment compared to the conventional method.

He explained that logging activities were to be conducted a safe distance from the water catchment areas.