PKR MP questions how PM, MB missed 'mangrove to golf resort' project

PARLIAMENT | Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim today questioned how the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (Irda) could have overlooked the construction of a golf resort in a gazetted mangrove area in Sungai Pulai.

In his committee stage budget debate in Dewan Rakyat, he urged the Finance Ministry to look into whether Irda, which is jointly chaired by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Johor Menteri Besar Dr Sahruddin Jamal, has been toothless in its task on developing Iskandar Malaysia.

"I wish to ask the ministry what is the real power of Irda? Does it overlap or is it powerless?"  

Hassan Karim (Harapan-Pasir Gudang) cited the Sungai Pulai Forest Reserve which was turned into Forest City Golf Course Resort to strengthen his argument.

"The 800ha of mangrove in Sungai Pulai was degazetted and turned into a world-class 18-hole golf course and resort and a highway linked to the airport and Singapore.

"How could a development project like the golf resort be approved when Irda is jointly chaired by the prime minister and the Johor menteri besar? How could they have overlooked?"

Hassan further questioned how Irda allowed Forest City, built on four man-made islands, to construct houses that the locals can't afford.

"It has implications on the environment as the Straits of Johor is getting narrower at Tanjung Pelepas. If we don't control, ships may collide," Hassan cautioned. 

Sungai Pulai is one of the sites classified as Wetlands of International Importance under the 2003 Ramsar Convention.

It is a mammoth 8,334ha mangrove swamp almost twice the landmass of Putrajaya. 

Malaysiakini previously reported that a part of the forest reserve was being transformed into a golf resort. 

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