No thought for the environment

Casey Lee

Local councils have no say in any projects because once they are approved, nobody can stop the developer, says Sabah Environment Protection Association.

KOTA KINABALU: The fast-tracking of development projects in Sabah has come with an enormous cost to the environment, according to the Sabah Environment Protection Association (Sepa).
Sepa president Wong Tack said companies and agencies are literally bulldozing through anything and everything once their projects are approved.

“This is the saddest thing that has happened in Sabah. Our mangrove on the east coast are disappearing at a rapid pace…

“Projects are being approved by the state cabinet and after that, they (developers) can just bulldoze through anything and overwrite all the government agencies.

“The door to companies and agencies to overstep the boundaries and requirements of the law is wide open under this government policy,” Wong told FMT recently.

He was referring to a statement issued by the government that the development of the three-phase Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) complied with the “highest standards of environment practice”.

Wong said Sepa, on discovering the POIC, had called for a review of the project. “We asked them to review the development of POIC, involving 4,500 acres of coastal land, the majority of it involving healthy mangrove.

“Close to 1,000 acres have been developed in phase one and two and more than 600 acres of healthy mangrove removed.

“But Tan (State Minister of Industrial Development Raymond Tan) said the three-phase project was conducted after proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies.

“He said that what was done here is according to the highest standards of environmental practice. But the Environmental Protection Department director Yabi Yangkat personally went up there and issued the highest compound (fine) for total violation,” Wong said, adding that “even Tan’s own environmental consultants had voiced their serious concerns” over the project.

“Yet Tan maintains that the development was done in the highest environment practice. What is this?” added Wong.

No proper planning

Wong is unhappy that the ministry did not have public consultation with non-governmental organisations, saying that Tan should seek the advice from Sepa and not vice-versa.

“What kind of planning is that? The right way is to have public consultations. When they have a problem, they ask us to come and see them. It’s wrong.

“Nobody is allowed to question. Local councils lose their right to voice out breaches of their by-laws because when the  cabinet approves, everything is overwritten,” said Wong.

He also questioned the capacity of the elected representatives in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly to understand environmental issues.

“I want to ask how many elected representatives sitting in the assembly that day who approved this POIC understood that they would be clearing off a massive acreage of mangrove.

“Even Tan didn’t know. So this cabinet green light is blindly approved. One man put up his  hand saying, ‘I approve this’, then another seconds this and the project is approved.”

He said the state cabinet and central planning unit are overwriting the local authorities and government agencies at the expense of the environment.