Indonesia, Malaysia compete over joint office for haze

Source: AsiaOne

Published on 31st March, 2015 by Margareth S. Aritonang

Indonesia is in a race with Malaysia for leadership of the upcoming ASEAN secretariat that will coordinate efforts to reduce transboundary air pollution caused by land and forest fires in the region.

“We are competing with Malaysia over this centre. We want it to be here instead of in Kuala Lumpur,” Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar told the House of Representatives Commission IV on Monday.

During the meeting with the commission, which oversees agriculture, plantations, maritime affairs, fisheries and food, Siti assured lawmakers the Indonesian government was making all the necessary preparations for gaining approval to host the centre from all ASEAN countries.

“We have also asked the Foreign Ministry to help in the effort,” she said.

The government’s proposal quickly gained support at the House due to the benefits it would bring to the country’s efforts to battle haze.

The establishment of the ASEAN coordinating centre on transboundary haze pollution is required by the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution that Indonesia ratified in September last year.

As the last signatory, the government proposed to take charge of the joint secretariat that will coordinate information, reports and policies needed to address the problems raised by transboundary haze pollution in the region.

Malaysian land reclamation work suspended pending environment impact reports

Source: Today

Published on 29th November, 2014 by YVONNE LIM

TODAY file photo

 
KL Minister says assessments will take at least three months to complete
 
SINGAPORE — Malaysia has since last month suspended land reclamation projects in the Strait of Johor pending the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the country’s Natural Resources and Environment Deputy Minister James Dawos Mamit told TODAY.

It will take at least three months for the EIA to be completed, he said. He added: “We have given the order to stop work … We are currently conducting research for an EIA report … It is not ready yet.”

Dr Mamit was speaking to TODAY over the phone, in response to the Singapore Government’s concerns over the projects during a meeting on Tuesday between Dr Mamit and Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, as part of an annual exchange of visits between the environment ministries of both countries.

Among other things, Dr Balakrishnan reiterated the Republic’s request for the reclamation work to be suspended until Singapore has received and studied all the relevant information from Malaysia, including the EIAs, and established that there would be no transboundary impact on Singapore from these projects.

Responding to TODAY’s queries, the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) said it had noted Dr Mamit’s remarks that Malaysia had issued the order for reclamation work in Johor to be stopped.

‘Federal Govt to deal with Singapore’s concerns’

Source: New Straits Times

Published on 23rd June, 2014 by BEN TAN

JOHOR BARU: THE Johor government is preparing information about the state’s coastal land reclamation projects for property development at the request of the Federal Government.

This follows Singapore’s request to the government for more information on coastal projects in the Straits of Johor. Singapore fears the projects may cause trans-boundary issues.

A source has confirmed that the state government is aware of the request by Putrajaya to furnish details on the projects.

“We have received a formal request from the Federal Government and we are compiling information,” the source told the New Straits Times yesterday.

However, he did not reveal details of the request, only saying that the information was related to several coastal land reclamation projects.

The source said the information would take time to compile as it involved several state agencies, including the Iskandar Regional Development Authority.

Coastal land reclamation falls under the jurisdiction of the state government if a project is not more than 50m from the original shoreline. Beyond that, it will be under the Federal Government’s jurisdiction.

Singapore concern over Johor project

Source: The Star

Published on 21st June, 2014 by  MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR

PETALING JAYA: An ambitious project which will see massive land reclamation work near the Johor Second Link has raised eyebrows across the Causeway.

The project called Forest City, which is said to involve several connected islands with a total land size of about 2,000ha – bigger than Pangkor island – could have potential transboundary effects and Singapore is concerned.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has written to his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak about the project.

This is a follow-up to two third-person notes from Singapore on the matter that were sent to the Foreign Ministry last month.

Another letter was handed to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Wahid Omar when he was in Singapore for a bilateral meeting recently.

Singapore started voicing its concern after a report appeared in The Star in March on the project by China’s Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd and Kumpulan Prasarana Rakyat Johor.

The project will involve land reclamation to build luxury homes on man-made islands off Pendas in southern Johor.

So far, there have been no indications of environment impact assessment reports over the projects. However, reclamation of parcels of less than 50ha each do not require EIAs.