The Star 24 Apr 12;
JUST as “Tioman risks being an ecological wasteland” (The Star, April 23), a major ecological disaster is threatening Desaru and Pengerang in Johor.
We are all for development in Pengerang. However, it is important for Petronas and the Government to ensure the preservation of the pristine beaches of Desaru and Pengerang.
Recently, Petronas announced the huge RAPID project to develop Pengerang as the oil and gas hub for Malaysia and South East Asia. This Petronas RAPID project is on fast track basis for the development of a number of oil and gas refineries in Teluk Ramunia.
What is important is for Malaysia to become a developed nation without destroying our pristine environment and fragile ecology.
For example, for this RAPID project, Petronas is to mine sea sand from nearby Teluk Ramunia to be used to top up a mangrove swamp.
This is for a massive housing project to relocate villagers affected by the RAPID project.
This approach of mining and sucking sea sand to top up the mangrove swamp will have a huge environmental impact. A large track of pristine fishing ground will be destroyed, denying the local fisherman of their livelihood.
By mining and sucking sea sand, thousands of acres of pristine beachfront land stretching from Desaru to Teluk Ramunia will be destroyed.
The beautiful beaches of Desaru and Pengerang will be swallowed by the sea. It is common sense that if you take sand from the sea, nearby beaches will be eroded to form new sand in the sea.
In future, remedial work to build embankments to protect the beaches will cost Petronas billions of ringgit.
And, Khazanah Nasional is developing a huge RM6bil project in Desaru into a premier beach resort and theme park.
It is important for the Environment Ministry, the Johor government, the Federal Government and Petronas to seriously study this problem.
I’m sure every proud Malaysian will be happy to see Malaysia become a developed nation, but not at the expense of destroying our fragile eco-system.
We have to take care of our environment for future generations of Malaysians.
ECO-CITIZEN,
Kuala Lumpur.
