Activists bid to stop Bukit Larut development, again
Humayun KabirPublished: Jun 11, 2010 7:06 AM | Updated: Jun 11, 2010 7:25 AM
Can the residents of historical Taiping town stop the recently announced third attempt by politicians to develop Bukit Larut, the oldest hill resort in the country, at the expense of its water catchment area which supplies water to some 500,000 residents of Larut, Matang and Selama districts?
Can the residents of historical Taiping town stop the recently announced third attempt by politicians to develop Bukit Larut, the oldest hill resort in the country, at the expense of its water catchment area which supplies water to some 500,000 residents of Larut, Matang and Selama districts?
This is the question posed by N Marimuthu who has been fighting an uphill fight since the 1990s to preserve this historical water catchment area with its rich natural bio-diversity from the clutches of politicians who are more commercially inclined rather than preserving nature.
Marimuthu, who is also the president for both the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) and Education and Research Association for Consumers of Malaysia (ERA Consumer), together with the Consumers Association of Taiping (CAT), NGOs and Taiping residents, is no stranger to battles to save Bukit Larut.
On two other previous occasions, this combined opposition had took on politicians keen to develop Bukit Larut, which was once known as Maxwell Hill.
First offensive
The first time was in 1997, when the then Menteri Besar Ramli Ngah Talib had given the green light to a developer for two projects including a multi-storey hotel on the hill resort and another in the Taiping Lake Gardens.
Taiping boy Marimuthu then went on the offensive with the ‘Save the green lung of Taiping’ campaign to stop the development of Bukit Larut and the Lake Gardens, gathering signatures, handing over memorandums of protest and creating a website (www.bukitlarut.com.my) to promote Bukit Larut as a centre for eco-tourism to attract more foreign tourists.
Finally, Perak Sultan Azlan Shah intervened and the proposed massive RM320 million development project on Bukit Larut was called off.
Second confrontation
The second confrontation over the hill’s development was during Pakatan’s 10-month rule of Perak, when the then Pakatan exco member Nga Kor Ming proposed a RM60 million cable car project for Bukit Larut.
Nga had stated that a visitor will only take 11 minutes by cable car to reach the peak of the resort compared with the present 30 minutes by Land Rover to travel the 13km road.
The DAP leader, who is also Taiping MP, had also stated that the cable link stretch of about 6km will have an initial 26 cable cars to be expanded to 46 cars which can carry 1,000 visitors an hour.
He said the construction of the cable car system will be done by helicopters and piling works will use the latest technology to ensure the fauna and flora are untouched.
However, the collapse of the Pakatan state government in February 2009 brought the curtains down on the project .
Similar project
After BN took control of the state, Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir also jumped on the Bukit Larut project bandwagon and announced last month a similar cable car project to that of Pakatan, much to the anger of Taiping residents.
Both Fomca and its affiliate Water and Energy Consumer Association of Malaysia (Wecam) also saw red in the revival of the cable car project, which will affect the Bukit Larut water catchment area.
They feared residents would suffer from a higher water tariff and poorer water quality due to the pollution of its catchment areas.
At present, Taiping is believed to have the best quality of water supply in the country as it is tasty and cool.
The major rivers that in Bukit Larut area that contribute water for catchment are Sungai (Sg) Ranting, Sg Anak Ranting, Sg Batu Teguh, Sg Tupai, Sg Air Terjun, Sg Larut and Sg Buluh.
The Matang Mangrove Forest reserve also requires water from Bukit Larut, as do local industries.
Marimuthu asked “What happened to the actual gazetted forest area of 71.4 square kilometres of 1910? Currently there is only about 27.47 square kilometres of gazetted forest land left.”
“The huge increase of visitors to Bukit Larut by cable car is mind-boggling as the sewerage and solid waste will overshoot the carrying capacity of the Environment Sensitive Areas (ESA) like Bukit Larut. Yet there was no Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out,” said the angry consumer activist.
He asked for the people to unite and let the government know the project is not welcome.
Bukit Larut, once known as Maxwell Hill, is a small granite mountain whose peak is 1,410m above sea level. It lies within the Bintang Range and is 9km from Taiping.
The Maxwell resort, founded about 100 years ago, was named after George Maxwell, a British Resident of Perak, and was opened in 1884 as a hill retreat for the British.
Besides being a water catchment area, the hill has a unique and diverse wildlife with many endemic species and over 1,980 flowering plant species from 123 families of plants.
This is the question posed by N Marimuthu who has been fighting an uphill fight since the 1990s to preserve this historical water catchment area with its rich natural bio-diversity from the clutches of politicians who are more commercially inclined rather than preserving nature.Marimuthu, who is also the president for both the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) and Education and Research Association for Consumers of Malaysia (ERA Consumer), together with the Consumers Association of Taiping (CAT), NGOs and Taiping residents, is no stranger to battles to save Bukit Larut.
On two other previous occasions, this combined opposition had took on politicians keen to develop Bukit Larut, which was once known as Maxwell Hill.
First offensive
The first time was in 1997, when the then Menteri Besar Ramli Ngah Talib had given the green light to a developer for two projects including a multi-storey hotel on the hill resort and another in the Taiping Lake Gardens.
Taiping boy Marimuthu then went on the offensive with the ‘Save the green lung of Taiping’ campaign to stop the development of Bukit Larut and the Lake Gardens, gathering signatures, handing over memorandums of protest and creating a website (www.bukitlarut.com.my) to promote Bukit Larut as a centre for eco-tourism to attract more foreign tourists.
Finally, Perak Sultan Azlan Shah intervened and the proposed massive RM320 million development project on Bukit Larut was called off.Second confrontation
The second confrontation over the hill’s development was during Pakatan’s 10-month rule of Perak, when the then Pakatan exco member Nga Kor Ming proposed a RM60 million cable car project for Bukit Larut.
Nga had stated that a visitor will only take 11 minutes by cable car to reach the peak of the resort compared with the present 30 minutes by Land Rover to travel the 13km road.
The DAP leader, who is also Taiping MP, had also stated that the cable link stretch of about 6km will have an initial 26 cable cars to be expanded to 46 cars which can carry 1,000 visitors an hour.
He said the construction of the cable car system will be done by helicopters and piling works will use the latest technology to ensure the fauna and flora are untouched.
However, the collapse of the Pakatan state government in February 2009 brought the curtains down on the project .
Similar project
After BN took control of the state, Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir also jumped on the Bukit Larut project bandwagon and announced last month a similar cable car project to that of Pakatan, much to the anger of Taiping residents.
Both Fomca and its affiliate Water and Energy Consumer Association of Malaysia (Wecam) also saw red in the revival of the cable car project, which will affect the Bukit Larut water catchment area.They feared residents would suffer from a higher water tariff and poorer water quality due to the pollution of its catchment areas.
At present, Taiping is believed to have the best quality of water supply in the country as it is tasty and cool.
The major rivers that in Bukit Larut area that contribute water for catchment are Sungai (Sg) Ranting, Sg Anak Ranting, Sg Batu Teguh, Sg Tupai, Sg Air Terjun, Sg Larut and Sg Buluh.
The Matang Mangrove Forest reserve also requires water from Bukit Larut, as do local industries.
Marimuthu asked “What happened to the actual gazetted forest area of 71.4 square kilometres of 1910? Currently there is only about 27.47 square kilometres of gazetted forest land left.”“The huge increase of visitors to Bukit Larut by cable car is mind-boggling as the sewerage and solid waste will overshoot the carrying capacity of the Environment Sensitive Areas (ESA) like Bukit Larut. Yet there was no Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out,” said the angry consumer activist.
He asked for the people to unite and let the government know the project is not welcome.
Bukit Larut, once known as Maxwell Hill, is a small granite mountain whose peak is 1,410m above sea level. It lies within the Bintang Range and is 9km from Taiping.
The Maxwell resort, founded about 100 years ago, was named after George Maxwell, a British Resident of Perak, and was opened in 1884 as a hill retreat for the British.
Besides being a water catchment area, the hill has a unique and diverse wildlife with many endemic species and over 1,980 flowering plant species from 123 families of plants.
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