Freeze on Penampang hill-cutting
Published on: Thursday, May 07, 2015
Penampang: District Officer Luvita Koisun has issued a stop work order on all hill cutting activities in the district pending the submission of development plans for approval by the landowners concerned. According to her, all the hill cutting were being done by owners on private properties. Development cannot be stopped but hill cutting must be done according to an approved plan, she said.
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"However, the problem is there is no mechanism for monitoring all the hill cutting," she said. Luvita said her office relies on input from all relevant departments such as Land and Survey Department as well as the Environmental Protection Department.The problem was that hill cutting owners would submit a form to the Department of Environment saying they intend to cut only about 1,000 cubic meters which is below the volume where a compulsory EIA needs to be done.It was reported that recent hill cutting and land clearing were taking an extra toll on residents here, ranging from unbearable heat due to loss of vegetation cover to extremely muddy water in upper Moyog which is abnormal considering the current dry spell.
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In Upper Moyog, gravity water supply has dried up and the villagers cannot fall back on the river which used to be crystal clear. It was also reported that apart from the villagers who used to take their water supply from the river, others affected by hill cutting activities were 28 tagal systems, five eco-tourism facilities and a supplementary water intake for the Water Department at Kampung Madsiang here.
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It is understood that there are only a handful of hills left, here, as many have been reduced to ground level in the lucrative earth filling business due to many padi fields having been converted to homesteads.In turn, due to the padi fields being unable to play their absorbent role anymore, the surface water runoff from the newly built-up areas lacking proper drainage during heavy rain results in the outdated and submerged culverts being unable to aid the water discharge anymore, thus causing flash floods.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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