Letter to the Editor: Stop Degazetting Forest Reserves for Highway Projects
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: STOP DEGAZETTING FOREST RESERVES FOR HIGHWAY PROJECTS The Selangor State Government’s tenacity in degazetting and destroying forest reserves for tolled highway projects is an outrage to the principles of integrity, transparency and environmental responsibility it had promised it would uphold during the last General Elections. The East Klang Valley Expressway (EKVE) would brutalise the Ulu Gombak and Ampang forests, fragmenting wildlife habitats and destroying vital watershed areas as it does so. Now the proposed Sungai Besi – Ulu Klang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) would bisect and destroy more green lungs, including Bukit Saga, a nature spot beloved by hikers and campers, while the proposed Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (DASH) would cut through the Bukit Cherakah and Sungai Buloh forest reserves. The plans for these highway projects are seen to have been pushed through with alarming haste, without giving citizen action groups and residents suff...