SHAH ALAM, Sept 8 — The state government has agreed to cancel the planned development at the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve (KLNFR) and regazette the area, says Selangor Menteri Besar.
Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari said the decision was made during the State Executive Council (MMKN) session today.
“The state government will stop the proposed development plan for the area and cancel the ownership of the land to the company in question.
“The state government will also begin the process of regazetting the KLNFR,” he said in a statement.
However, he said 104 acres out of a total of 1,326 acres (of the KLNFR) will remain degazetted to complete the land ownership to Busut Baru Orang Asli village to resolve issues that have been pending since 2006.
The Orang Asli were relocated from their original settlement in 1994 for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) construction.
Amirudin added the state government would also consider for a small part of the area to remain degazetted for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) alignment project.
He said the state government would also retain the status of the 1,436 acres of land approved as KLNFR’s replacement area in Sungai Panjang, Ampang Pechah and Bukit Broga, as a permanent forest reserve.
“The state government would like to emphasise that all previous degazettement processes have followed all the procedures in accordance with the law,” he said.
He said the state government would also write to the Selangor State Assembly Speaker to convene a special meeting of the Select Committee on Competency, Accountability and Transparency to answer any issues raised on the previous degazettement.
In 2019, the state government had planned to develop part of KLNFR into a mixed development project due to the rapid development in the surrounding area including the Saujana Putra housing project, Elite highway and Gamuda Cove.
The process to change the status was made in accordance with Section 11(b) Enactment (Adoption) National Forestry Act 1985 which allows the state to degazette the forest reserve should the area posed higher economic use.
However, the Selangor government is required to replace the permanent forest reserve approximately of similar size on other lands as stated in Section 12 National Forestry Act 1984.
An area of about 581.48 hectares has been approved as permanent forest reserve replacement which covers PT4182 in the Sungai Panjang subdistrict in Sabak Bernam (about 308.62 hectares or 762.29 acres), Ampang Pechah in Hulu Selangor (about 208.98 hectares or 516.40 acres) and Bukit Broga in Hulu Langat (about 63.88 hectares or 157.86 acres).
