THE Kedah government has spent more than RM12 million on forest conservation and maintenance since 2018, Menteri Besar 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 included enrichment, forest restoration, mangrove planting and treatment, forest inventory, maintaining the Forest Eco Park and the High Conservation Value Forest plot, measuring and cleaning the permanent forest reserve borders and construction of nurseries, he said during the question-and-answer session at the state assembly sitting today.

He said this in reply to a question from Phahrolrazi Mohd Zawawi (Alor Mengkudu-PH), 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, Sanusi said based on the records of the state Forestry Department, some 3,428ha of the total 341,895.95ha of the permanent forest reserve in the state had been encroached.

To a supplementary question from Mohd Azam Abd Samat (Sg Limau-PAS), the menteri besar said Kedah obtained the Forest Management Certification on October 6, 2003 involving 310,951ha of permanent forest reserve.

However, Sanusi said the certification was suspended in May 2019 and subsequently revoked for several reasons, including the failure to submit the Environmental Impact Assessment report related to the forest plantation development project.

He added the state government managed to obtain the certification again on October 1 this year, hence proving that permanent forest reserve in Kedah was well managed and complied with international standards. – Bernama, November 15, 2021.