ALOR SETAR, Nov 15 — The Kedah government has spent over RM12 million on forest conservation and maintenance since 2018, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said.

He said of the total, RM4.85 million was spent last year, RM4.86 million in 2019 and RM2.55 million in 2018.

The scope of work includes enrichment work; forest restoration; mangrove planting and treatment; forest inventory; maintaining the Forest Eco Park and the High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF) plot; measuring and cleaning the Permanent Forest Reserve borders; and construction of nurseries, he said during the question and answer session at the State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

He said this in reply to a question from Datuk Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi (Amanah-Alor Mengkudu) who wanted to know the scope of work for forest conservation and maintenance in the state, including the total expenditure for the last three years.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Sanusi said based on the records of the state Forestry Department, some 3,428 hectares of the total 341,895.95 hectares of the Permanent Forest Reserve in the state had been encroached.

To a supplementary question from Mohd Azam Abd Samat (PAS-Sungai Limau), the Mentri Besar said Kedah has obtained the Forest Management Certification on Oct 6, 2003 involving 310,951 hectares of Permanent Forest Reserve.

However, Muhammad Sanusi said the certification was suspended in May 2019 and subsequently revoked for several reasons including not submitting the Environmental Impact Assessment report (EIA) related to the forest plantation development project.

He added the state government managed to obtain the certification again on Oct 1 this year, thus proving that Permanent Forest Reserve in Kedah was well managed and reached the international standard. — Bernama