Kedah’s water payment demands a ploy to divert attention, says Ramasamy
GEORGE TOWN: Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy today said Kedah’s repeated demands for Penang to pay for water drawn from Sungai Muda was most likely an attempt to divert attention from the state’s intention to carry out more logging activities upstream of the river. He said it was also…
GEORGE TOWN: Penang deputy chief minister P Ramasamy today said Kedah’s repeated demands for Penang to pay for water drawn from Sungai Muda was most likely an attempt to divert attention from the state’s intention to carry out more logging activities upstream of the river.
He said it was also possible that menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor would use Penang’s reluctance to pay RM50 million for water drawn from the river as an excuse to ask for more logging allowances from the federal government.
Sanusi had raised the tempo recently in his demands for Penang to compensate Kedah for raw water extracted from Sungai Muda.
He warned that Penang would soon be extracting just “mud”, alluding to earlier reports that the river may be diverted away from Penang.Powered by Streamlyn
Penang remained steadfast in its refusal to pay any money, claiming it was only drawing water from the part of the river flowing within its own boundaries.
“Threats of blocking water supply, going to court and the muddy flow are attempts by Sanusi to divert attention from the real issue, the greed for logging,” Ramasamy said, adding that there was a lot of money to be made from such ventures.
He also said if Sungai Muda did indeed turn muddy, it would not be due to the lack of water but instead a consequence of irresponsible logging upstream, inside Kedah.
Last year, Sanusi had said his government would seek RM100 million from Putrajaya to help preserve the Ulu Muda forests, where the Sungai Muda originates.
He was also reported to have said that the state had to pay RM1.5 billion in damages to some 40 timber concession holders after their rights to log in permanent forest reserves were withdrawn by the previous state government under Mukhriz Mahathir.
Sanusi had earlier proposed giving replacement forests for these concession holders to harvest to avoid paying them any compensation.
However, this proposal was met with objections from green groups, saying it would defeat the purpose of protecting Kedah’s forests.
FMT has contacted Sanusi for comment. — Free Malaysia Today