KUCHING, Nov 29 — Sarawak has designated five more land areas to be gazetted as Totally Protected Areas (TPA) to achieve the target of one million hectares of TPA by 2025, said Sarawak’s Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.
Awang Tengah who is also the State Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development said the areas include Tutoh-Apoh National Park, Bukit Lima Natural Reserve, Kubah National Park, Matang Natural Reserve, and Bako Buntal Bay National Park.
“The gazetting of these areas is at the initial stage and to date a total of 67 TPAs have been gazetted and are being managed by Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC).
“This encompasses an overall area of approximately 2.12 million hectares, with marine areas covering about 1.24 million hectares and mainland areas covering 872,386 hectares,” he said during the debate on Supply Bill 2024 for his ministry at the Sarawak state assembly sitting here today.
Meanwhile, Awang Tengah said the ministry is in the midst of identifying additional locations for the collection of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) to facilitate the public in disposing of damaged and obsolete items statewide.
“At present, collection centres have been established in Kuching and Miri. We will study to see if it is feasible and viable to set up more e-waste recovery facilities in Sarawak.
He added that from January to October, a total of 96.52 tonnes of e-waste were collected at 32 locations across Sarawak. — Bernama
