KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has ordered the planting of 100 trees for every unnecessary tree that is felled in the city.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Anwar said he has issued this instruction to Kuala Lumpur Mayor, Datuk Seri Kamarulzaman Mat Salleh.

"I have instructed the Mayor that for every tree that has to be cut down, 100 new trees must be planted,” he said.

Anwar was responding to a news report published by Bernama on Monday (May 13), which quoted the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories), Dr Zaliha Mustafa, on the action taken by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) in the wake of a huge tree getting uprooted and falling across a road during a thunderstorm recently, resulting in the death of a motorist.

According to Dr Zaliha, DBKL has been instructed to promptly fell trees at risk of getting uprooted following that incident.

She was also quoted as saying that DBKL had been told to improve the Shade Tree Management Plan and to develop new guidelines pertaining to ageing or high-risk trees, which is expected to be completed by July to ensure similar incidents do not recur. — Bernama