Picture Courtesy of The AntDaily
The Selangor Menteri Besar's (MB) recent announcement indicates that the proposed East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) will proceed. Based on the known alignment, the EKVE will cut through Selangor State Park and precious water catchment forests.
The approval of the EKVE, a Federal government project approved by the Selangor state government to cut through the only state park in Selangor, in contradiction to the most important spatial plan in Peninsular Malaysia, the National Physical Plan-2 (NPP-2). The NPP-2 categorises water catchment forests and state parks as Environmentally Sensitive Area Rank 1 – the highest in order of ecological sensitivity. No development is allowed in order to safeguard these sensitive ecosystems.
The EKVE will cause fragmentation to the last remaining contiguous forest in Selangor. This in essence, not in tandem with the Central Forest Spine initiative – an initiative to safeguard contiguous forests in Peninsular Malaysia and create ecological linkages where forests have been fragmented.
The approval of the EKVE also goes against the state government’s promise to maintain the forests in the state.WWF-Malaysia participated in this process, and voiced our concerns to a panel but till now, we have not seen the report and recommendations from the Panel.
http://www.wwf.org.my/?20225%2FLetter-to-Editor-Disheartened-with-approval-of-the-EKVE-project
The project will begin its development this September,there is still time to make a difference.
Urge MB Selangor,Azmin Ali to hold the project and continue review and discussion with environmental groups and the public.
Thanks for taking action.
