ENVIRONMENTAL watchdog Rimba Watch wants the Selangor government to reveal the approval process for the development of a road from Bandar Nusarhu to Setia Alam, which cuts through the Bukit Cerakah forest.

Its director Adam Farhan said it was important to know if the environmental impact assessment for the project had been approved.

Adam said the 1km-road project will sever the Shah Alam Community Forest (SACF) from Taman Botani Negara Shah Alam, which will affect the habitats of the animals of the forest as well as access to recreational areas.

He added that a biodiversity survey of the SACF showed that the Malayan tapir, white-handed gibbon and leopard cat, which are protected species under the Wildlife Conservation Act, are present in the area

He said the the roadkill incidents of tapir in the Bukit Cerakah area in recent years have been well-documented, with the most recent occurring in November 2023.

“This road project not only places protected species under threat from future such incidents, but also severs their habitat connectivity with the wider Bukit Cerakah forest complex, therefore reducing their habitat size and risking the sustainability of the species’ survival in the complex,” he said.

He added that the legal status of the SACF was also uncertain as a local community has filed a legal challenge to the Selangor government’s backdating of the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve’s degazettement.

The degazettement was published in 2022 but came into force in 2000, “which is an unusual degazettement process”, he added.

The Shah Alam Community Forest Society also wants the state to issue a stop-work order with immediate effect.

“The outcome of the court process is still pending. Given the above, Rimba Watch urges the government of Selangor to clarify what was the approval process for this road project and did the project receive environmental impact assessment approval,” he said.

Adam questioned the state government’s commitment to turn the state into a smart, habitable and prosperous state by 2025.

“How does building a road through an ‘undisturbed’ forest align with such objectives? How does the government plan to mitigate impacts to biodiversity from this project?” – April 2, 2024.