Mixed reaction to Forest City project

ZAZALI MUSA The Star 16 Jan 14;

JOHOR BARU: There has been mixed reaction to the multi-billion-ringgit Forest City Project following the securing of approval from the Department of Environment (DOE).

While property consultants welcome the project as an iconic one for the state, other stakeholders such as fishermen have voiced their concerns about how the project would negatively impact their livelihood.

To recap, Forest City entails the reclamation and development of a large area in the Straits of Johor and entails the creation of four man-made islands with a gross development value of RM600bil over 30 years.

Johor Real Estate Housing and Developers Association branch chairman Hoe Mee Ling anticipated that it would be “an iconic development project” in the region.

“The right concept and the right marketing are needed to make it successful but the company undertaking the project must also make sure the environment is well protected,’’ she said.

KGV International Property Consultants (M) Sdn Bhd director Samuel Tan said the Forest City could be “the next Dubai of Asia” attracting the rich and famous from all over the world.

“It is quite exciting to know what in the offing especially on the four-man made islands, so I guess we all have to wait for the launch date,’’ he said.

The majority of fishermen in the Gelang Patah area, however, are no longer going out to the sea as their catch has been dwindling by days with the start of the land reclamation work for the Forest City Project early last year.

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Johor Chapter advisor Vincent Chow said the marine life in the area already affected when the work started in February, last year.

But the work was stopped after a few months, as the project by Chinese developer Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV) did not get the relevant approval from the DOE.

“Now, you can imagine how bad the situation is going to be with the project getting the green light from the DOE,’’ he said when contacted yesterday.

Chow said although the multi-billion ringgit project had been scaled down by 610ha to 1,368.05ha from the initial 1,978ha, the environmental impact was still devastating.

He said despite the breeding season for prawns in the area, fishermen only managed to bring back home less than a kg of prawns daily.

“They even borrowed money from the middlemen to buy diesel to go out to the sea but the catch is not enough to pay back for what they borrowed,’’ said Chow.

He said the devastation of sea-grass in the area covering about 40ha would no longer attract fishes, prawns and crabs for spawning adding in the area is not longer suitable for marine life.

Chow claimed the state government and the DOE did not consult the non-governmental organisations and fishermen on the impact of the project.

Johor reclamation project gets go-ahead, but size reduced
Shannon Teoh The Straits Times 17 Jan 15;

Malaysian environmental authorities have approved reclamation works for the Forest City project in Johor, but for a reduced 1,386ha development instead of the initial 1,600ha.

The project had faced resistance from Singapore and Malaysians living near the site, which is close to Tuas, over fears of damage to the ecology of the waterway between the two countries.

Country Garden Pacificview (CGPV), the master developer, said in a statement yesterday that the Department of Environment (DoE) granted approval after accepting proposals in a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment to "minimise or mitigate environmental impacts through integrated and workable solutions".

"Our next step is to ensure that all compliance monitoring, in terms of air, noise, water quality and sediment, is robustly implemented and carried out," said Datuk Md Othman Yusof, executive director of the joint venture between Johor state and Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings. "This is one of our immediate priorities - minimising the impact on the local communities and ensuring that the surrounding ecology (is) well preserved," he said in the statement.

A source familiar with the development told The Straits Times that the land reclamation was reduced to improve environmental standards, with CGPV given land on the mainland instead.

"The approved size is smaller because some of the land is on solid ground," the source said of the project whose backers include the state's sultan.

According to reports, one-third of the joint venture belongs to Esplanade Danga 88, a company in which the state has a 20 per cent interest, with the rest belonging directly to Sultan Ibrahim Ismail and royal court member Daing A. Malek Daing A. Rahaman.

Country Garden, which is China's seventh-largest property developer, had voluntarily halted land reclamation last June following controversy over the mixed development project that would include luxury homes and a new stadium for the state football team.

Forest City, which has a gross development value of RM600 billion (S$223 billion), was originally conceived as four man-made islands amounting to 1,600ha, over three times the size of Sentosa.

Initial plans had the islands built in the waters in Tanjung Kupang between south-west Johor and the north-west of Singapore.

Singapore conveyed its concerns on a number of occasions to Malaysia, asking for more information on the reclamation and construction works in the Johor Strait and that work be stopped until full studies were done.

Fishermen and fish farm operators have blamed mass fish deaths in the area on the land reclamation works, but the developer has denied this.

Apart from Forest City, the royal family is also involved in a 1,410ha reclamation project for an oil and gas hub farther west, off Tanjung Piai.