Penang Hills Watch Report 2016

Transcription

1 Penang Hills Watch Report st December 2016 Prepared by 1

2 Contents 1.0 Introduction Records of public observations Zone 1: Northern Part of Penang Island Zone 2: Middle Part of Penang Island Zone 3: Southern Part of Penang Island Follow up

3 Penang Hills Watch Report Introduction The Penang Hills Watch (PHW) was publicly launched by the Penang Forum (PF) on 31 October 2016, with an invitation to the public to contribute on-the-ground observations on hill clearing activities. Thus far, we have received 40 cases of land clearing and construction activities on the island, which we have documented, mapped and displayed online through the PHW portal A week before the launch, PF members requested and had a meeting with a number of government agencies including Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP), Jabatan Perhutanan Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPNPP), Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia (JUPEM) and Jabatan Perancang Bandar Dan Desa Pulau Pinang (JPBDPP) when we explained the purpose of the PHW project and demonstrated the online application. We emphasized that the observations made in the field need to be checked against official records to determine if the clearing activities have official approval or, if otherwise, whether these activities need to be checked out and acted upon by the relevant government authorities. We therefore suggested close cooperation with MBPP and other relevant government departments for mutual exchange of information, and our suggestion was well received at the meeting. This report constitutes our first compilation of observations since the launch at the end of October Some of the cases which are on the PHW page have been independently investigated by the relevant authorities and thus have been filtered out from this report. So while there are 40 reports which have been received by PHW, we seek clarification for 29 out of these 40 reports. We intend to produce quarterly reports starting from 2017, and to duly submit to MBPP for the said purpose. The details of this first set of field observations are provided below. 3

4 2.0 Records of public observations PHW reports have been obtained from various locations around Penang State and while the scope of PHW includes the whole of Penang State ( including Seberang Perai), the reports received thus far by PHW in this first report are only from localities on Penang Island. Thus this first report covers sites in Penang Island only. Each report is identified by A photo (or photos) Nearest township or road Approximate coordinates Report and Photo date (Photo dates might vary from the report date) Reports are grouped by three zones where they are obtained from. The zones are as follows; Zone 1 - Northern part of Penang Island Zone 2 - Middle part of Penang Island Zone 3 - Southern part of Penang Island The location of these regions are indicated in the illustrated map below with their locations as numbered earlier. Zone 1 has 10 reports, Zone 2 has 14 reports and Zone 3 has 5 reports, bringing the total number of reports for investigation to 29. Photo 1: Three zones covered in the PHW Report 4

5 2.1 Zone 1: Northern Part of Penang Island Report 1 Location : Near Lorong Lembah Permai 3. Approximate Coordinates : 5 27'13.02"N, '52.89"E Report sent in August Photos taken in October 2016 and January 2016 respectively. Report 2 Location : Beside Jalan Mount Erskine Approximate Coordinates : 5 26'52.84"N,100 18'1.91"E Report sent in September Photos taken in September 2016 and October

6 Report 3 Location : Near Jalan Chan Siew Teong Approximate Coordinates : 5 27'55.28"N, '28.66"E Report sent in October Photo taken in November Report 4 Location : Near Jalan Chan Siew Teong Approximate Coordinates: 5 27'53.87"N,100 16'30.58"E Report sent in September Photo taken in October 2016 and September

7 Report 5 Location : Hillslope near Penang National Park (Can be seen from Teluk Bahang Dam) Approximate Coordinates : 5 27'14.42"N,100 12'12.38"E Report sent in November Photos taken in November Report 6 Location : Near Lorong Lembah Permai (Bukit Lang slope). Approximate Coordinates: 5 26'56.24"N,100 16'50.40"E Report sent in December Photo taken in December

8 Report 7 Location : Beside Jalan Sungai 1, Batu Ferringghi, near Batu Ferringghi Aqueduct. Approximate Coordinates : 5 28'1.11"N, '58.98"E Report sent in August Photo taken in July Report 8 Location : Near Jalan Batu Gantong Approximate Coordinates : 5 25'14.79"N,100 17'40.57"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October

9 Report 9 Location : Near Solok Kejora 2 Approximate Coordinates : 5 27'6.75"N,100 17'33.03"E Report sent in December Photo taken in December Report 10 Location : 1.37km northeast (uphill) from Bandar Baru Air Putih Approximate Coordinates : 5 22'47.98"N,100 13'48.27"E Report sent in December Photo taken in December

10 2.2 Zone 2: Middle Part of Penang Island Report 11 Location : Near Cangkat Bukit Gambir. Approximate Coordinates : 5 22'23.11"N,100 17'28.57"E Report sent in August Photos taken in January Report 12 Location : Near Lebuh Rambai 1 Approximate Coordinates : 5 22'51.35"N,100 16'45.90"E Report sent in August Photos taken in August

11 Report 13 Location : Near Tingkat Paya Terubong 4 Approximate Coordinates : 5 22'0.68"N,100 16'36.41"E Report sent in August Photo taken in August Report 14 Location : Near Jalan Paya Terubong Approximate Coordinates : 5 21'18.34"N,100 16'28.51"E Report sent in August Photos taken in August

12 Report 15 Location : Near Lintang Bukit Jambul 1 Approximate Coordinates : 5 20'38.47"N,100 16'52.82"E Report sent in August Photos taken in November 2016 and Report 16 Location : 1.8km west (horizontal distance) from Jalan Paya Terubong. On Bukit Penara and Bukit Relau Range (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Forest Reserve) Approximate Coordinates: 5 21'51.22"N, '26.67"E Report sent in August Photos taken in August

13 Report 17 Location : Beside Jalan Tun Sardon Approximate Coordinates: 5 21'4.61"N,100 15'14.05"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October Report 18 Location : Near Jalan Tun Sardon (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Permanent Forest Reserve.) Approximate Coordinates: 5 20'49.38"N,100 15'7.03"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October

14 Report 19 Location : 0.35km east (horizontal distance) from Jalan Tun Sardon (Bukit Pondok Upeh slope). Approximate Coordinates: 5 20'30.40"N,100 14'58.24"E. Report sent in October Photo taken in October Report 20 Location : 1.6km west (horizontal distance) from Jalan Paya Terubong. On Bukit Penara and Bukit Relau Range (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Forest Reserve). Approximate Coordinates: 5 21'52.30"N,100 15'33.93"E Report sent in August Photo taken in August

15 Report 21 Location : Persiaran Bukit Gambir Approximate Coordinates: 5 21'38.42"N,100 17'19.50"E Report sent in November Photo taken in November Report 22 Location : Jalan Bukit Gambir Approximate Coordinates: 5 22'2.11"N,100 17'44.78"E Report sent in November Photo taken in November

16 Report 23 Location : 1.10km eastward (uphill) from Jalan Bukit Gambir (Bukit Kukus Slope) Approximate Coordinates: 5 21'57.50"N,100 17'14.94"E Report sent in December Photo taken in December Report 24 Location : Beside Jalan Paya Terubong. Approximate Coordinates: 5 22'11.59"N,100 16'26.19"E Report sent in November Photo taken in November

17 2.3 Zone 3: Southern Part of Penang Island Report 25 Location : 1.13km northeast of Bandar Baru Teluk Kumbar (Bukit Papan slope) Approximate Coordinates: 5 18'7.92"N, '16.50"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October Report 26 Location : 0.10km northwest of Jalan Teluk Kumbar Approximate Coordinates : 5 17'42.52"N,100 15'19.25"E Report sent in November Photo taken in November

18 Report 27 Location : 0.53km northwest and uphill (horizontal distance) from Jalan Teluk Kumbar. Approximate Coordinates: 5 17'53.12"N,100 14'59.19"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October Report 28 Location : Near Persiaran Kelicap. Approximate Coordinates: 5 18'30.50"N,100 15'34.24"E Report sent in October Photo taken in October

19 Report 29 Location : Near Jalan Bayan Lepas (Kampung Batu Maung) Approximate Coordinates: 5 17'0.35"N,100 17'21.64"E Report sent in December Photo taken in December

20 3.0 Follow up We seek MBPP s assistance to look through the above observed reports and comment: 1. If the land clearing activity is legally sanctioned; 2. The purpose of the land clearing activity; 3. The land use status of the affected site; 4. If the activity is legal, the highest elevation from sea level in the activity site, and 5. If any action needs to be taken on the part of the Council or other government departments. We can then duly complete the records published on the PHW portal with accurate and authoritative information. The people of Penang would welcome such openness on the part of the authorities, which will be in line with the State s CAT policy. We also note that the Penang State Government is monitoring land clearing activities using drones, as reported a month ago (STAR, 26 November 2016). As revealed, it has successfully detected 40 cases of illegal hill clearing. We would like to know if some or all of these 40 cases are different from the observations we have compiled here. If there are different cases we would like to request if the geographical locations of these cases can be shared with us for uploading to the PHW portal. This would be one way to engage the Penang public to exercise vigilance in conducting ground checks as needed. We look forward to your assistance and attention to the cases which were highlighted and hope to receive your written answer in regards to it. Thank you. Penang Forum Steering Committee 31st of December