'Illegal land clearing cost us millions'

IPOH: Perak suffered losses amounting to millions of ringgit because of rampant illegal land clearing, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Kadir said.

Quoting initial studies by the state government, he said about 17,400ha of state land had been cleared.

He added that the losses amounted to “hundreds of millions” and the state was taking action to curb further losses.

“We are collecting more information and identifying more areas that may have been cleared,” he said, adding that the Batang Padang and Seri Manjung districts were among the hot spots for these activities.

“We will not protect anyone, including civil servants or their so-called cronies, if they are found to be involved,” he said after appearing on the Perak FM morning show Selamat Pagi Perak here yesterday.

“People have claimed that the illegal activities are due to poor enforcement and that we have no mechanisms to control these,” he said, adding that there were syndicates offering “land deals” that could purportedly rake in tens of thousands of ringgit.

Dr Zambry claimed there had been some irresponsible statements from opposition leaders encouraging people to “teroka dulu, minta peruntukan kemudian (venture first, ask for allocations later)”.

He added that the opposition leaders were giving the wrong picture to the people.

On land grant applications by farmers, Dr Zambry said the state was not heartless to deny some who had been toiling on the land for 30 or 40 years.

However, the state needed to be thorough when vetting applications, he said.

Regarding illegal sand mining, Dr Zambry said the state was monitoring the situation.