Today Online 8 Jan 15;
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore said it has not received any official correspondence from the Malaysian government regarding limiting the size of the Forest City project by Country Garden Pacific View as reported earlier this week by the Malaysian Insider.
The developer of Malaysia’s controversial Forest City in the Johor Straits was reported to have been ordered to cut the size of its giant 1,600 hectare development, but developer Country Garden Pacific View said in a statement issued earlier this week that limiting the project’s size was never discussed with Malaysian’s department of the environment.
A Malaysian Insider report on Sunday said the project will be limited to 405ha and that the limits followed issues raised by locals as well as the Singapore government over the environmental impact of the project.
“As conveyed to Malaysia earlier, Singapore is concerned about the potential transboundary impact from Malaysia’s land reclamation projects in the Straits of Johor, given their close proximity to Singapore,” a spokesman said.
“Singapore looks forward to expeditiously receiving all relevant information regarding such reclamation projects in the Straits of Johor, including environmental impact assessment reports, from Malaysia in accordance with its obligations under international law and in particular under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
Another source said Malaysian environmental authorities made their decision after Singapore presented videos and documentary proof of continued reclamation work for the China-Malaysia joint-venture project. It is understood that the evidence was presented at the last Malaysia-Singapore Joint Commission on Environment, which met last month.
