ECRL Land-Clearing; Enforcement Due To SOP Breach - Selangor MB’s Aide

According to state government staffer Jay Jay Denis, a Chinese construction company responsible for clearing land in Selangor's forest reserves for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project was subject to enforcement action last year for failing to follow standard operating procedures. Despite having a permit to work on the ECRL, China Communications Construction Company (M) Sdn Bhd (CCCC) started construction on that part of the project in Selangor in December of last year before getting the go-ahead from the state Forestry Department.

"They (CCCC) believed they could start working right away because they had the permit, but they actually needed to apply to the department to let authorities know they would be beginning work. When contacted, he explained, "This is so that the department can send personnel to the site to ensure that the proper parts of the forests are being carved out."

The stop-work order and fine that were imposed on the company in December have since been lifted, according to the special officer to Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari. "The company was informed in December that they will need to follow the proper administrative procedures in order to start working in the future.

The problem back then was simply that they failed to give a notice (to the department), he said. "If (CCCC) had no permit to operate then, there would definitely have been further legal action," he said. Denis' remarks follow yesterday's statement by state executive councillor Hee Loy Sian that a use permit had been issued by the department in July 2022 for the execution of the ECRL project in the permanent forest reserve area.

The head of the state's Environment, Green Technology, Tourism, and Orang Asli Affairs Committee also stated that on November 30, 2021, Malaysia Rail Link Sdn Bhd, the department of the Finance Ministry in charge of managing the ECRL project, received approval for the environmental impact assessment report for Section C2 (Gombak-Serendah-Port Klang). However, Amirudin had previously claimed that land clearing operations in the state's forest reserves had been carried out "without approval," noting that a police report had been filed against CCCC in December. Denis clarified that Amirudin was not referring to the lack of a permit to work on the project, but rather the lack of approval from the state Forestry Department to start clearing state land.

Amirudin and Hee were responding to a complaint made by the environmental watchdog Rimba Disclosure Project regarding the clearing of land. According to a CCCC spokesman, the organisation has all the necessary approvals and permits from the necessary authorities to move forward with the project. On December 21, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim declared that the ECRL project would now cost RM74.96 billion to complete, down from the initial estimate of RM85.97 billion when the project was first announced in 2017.

He declared that the project to build the 665km-long rail system from Kota Baru in Kelantan to Port Klang in Selangor will move forward.