The government must step in and take over the private man-made island project, Forest City in Johor, to safeguard the environment and the people's interest, an opposition leader said today.

 

Noting that the Johor state-owned Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor (KPRJ) has only 6.8 percent in this important mega project, DAP's Boo Cheng Hau warned that critics will not stop saying that this is "another Singapore."

 

Chinese companies and the Johor royalty are the major stakeholders in Forest City , a mega project to build a new 2,000 hectares city, almost half the size of Putrajaya, mainly through land reclamation.

The city juts out from the Straits of Johor, is adjacent to Tanjung Pelepas Port and points towards Tuas, Singapore.

 

Its sovereignty was even being challenged by Malaysia's ex-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad ( left ), Boo noted.

                                   

"In order to resolve this question of sovereignty, the Johor state government should consider including more Malaysian and Johorean interests especially the presence of GLCs in the mega project - if it is deemed fit by all quarters of society to go on.

 

“Its share ownership should be restructured to be at least 51 percent owned by Johorean and Malaysian linked companies," Boo, the Skudai state assemblyperson, said.

 

Mangroves affected

He added that the mega project should also not go on until it has fulfilled all environmental study prerequisites and received approvals from the relevant government agencies.

 

Boo ( right ) was also deeply concerned that Forest City would affect the Sungai Pulai mangroves reserved forest.

 

"According to the state government's reply to my written question at the Johor state assembly sitting last June, only 6740.4 hectares of the originally designated 9,126 hectares of Sungai Pulai mangroves reserve are in the process of being gazetted as a heritage site," he said.

 

He added that this meant that a quarter of the original reserved forest, designated a heritage since 2003, would vanish without much accountability.

 

Boo further estimated that the loss of forest would result in RM1.67 billion annual loss of fishery produce and the demolition of the traditional livelihood of fishermen living in the 38 villages nearby.

 

He urged that Johor Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin give his nod to a select committee composed of both BN backbenchers and Pakatan reps.

The committee could then be tasked to carry out an independent review of Forest City.