The state government will make a decision on the Santubong cable car project once the proposal has gone through all due processes, especially the environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg stressed there was a need for the EIA report, which will be vetted by the Natural Resources and Environmental Board (NREB).
“In principle, there was a submission (of the proposal), but we have to go through the NREB as the EIA studies has to be done. As it is a private enterprise’s proposal, we will only decide after the EIA report is done,” he told The Borneo Post on the sidelines of the State Legislative Assembly sitting here yesterday.
Why does the Malaysian Government need to destroy yet another area of extraordinary environmental beauty in the name of ‘development’ ?
Locals and environmentalists have been against plans for a cable car at Mt Santubong since the project was announced by Taib Mahmud back in 2007. Naturalist Sir Alfred Wallace made many of his findings there which led to his writings on the theory of evolution and in recent weeks, rare clouded leopards have been spotted on the mountain.
A petition and Facebook group were set up by concerned locals last year, but so far the project has been clouded in mystery. Notorious Taib crony Ting Pek Khiing has admitted to being “the main proponent behind the project” and like most projects in Sarawak, it will no doubt be Taib and his cronies that benefit.
It is all well and good for Abang Johari to stress the importance of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), but it MUST be made public. Time and again the indigenous peoples of Sarawak have been denied access to EIAs and the right to free prior and informed consent.