Nineteen NGOs today urged Selangor Menteri Besar Azman Ali to answer six questions regarding highway projects in the state.

Group spokesperson Sivarajan Arumugan said the highways in question are the East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE), Sungai Besi-Hulu Klang Expressway (SUKE) and the Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (Dash).

He said emphasis was especially placed on EKVE's potentially adverse impact on the environment.

"The EKVE will pass through Selangor reserve forest. It had been gazetted in 2007 and it's a rain catchment and home to various flora and fauna.

"Azmin says this forest can be replaced, but we don't think that's right. Once you've carved through the forest, the whole ecosystem, the whole water catchment will be affected.

"It may just be a few hectares but it'll have an effect throughout the forest reserve," Sivarajan, who is also the PSM secretary-general, told reporters at the Selangor secretariat building today.

The questions the NGOs had for Azmin ( photo ) were:

  1. Why destroy a water catchment?
  2. Can the forest ecosystem be replaced?
  3. Are the forest gazette terms being observed?
  4. What's the long term policy for the Selangor state government to protect forest reserves as "The Selangor State Park"?
  5. How has the state government dealt with the public's protestations?
  6. What alternatives has the state government come up with to strengthen public transportation.

The questions were posed in a memorandum, which was accepted by one of Azmin's press officers.

In January, the public appearance of a rare Sumatran serow in Ukay Perdana sparked fears that its habitat was being destroyed by the EKVE project.