Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Perak keen on rehabilitating former mines - The Star

IPOH: April 15, 2008 by Chan Li Leen

Perak is keen to rehabilitate its many former tin mines, state Higher Education, Science, Technology and Communications committee chairman Thomas Su Keong Siong said.

He said the state government was particularly interested in a project in Bidor, where a former tin mine had been successfully converted into a forest.

The project, he added, had been ongoing for the last eight years.

"We will study its feasibility and see how we can expand it further.

"In Perak, there are still a lot of former mining land that have yet to be rehabilitated," Su told reporters Tuesday after opening the 2008 Soil Science Conference of Malaysia here.

He was representing Mentri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin at the event jointly organised by the Malaysian Society of Soil Science (MSSS) and Forest Research Institute (FRIM).

"There is certainly a need for conservation of the environment and that is a priority of the state government," Su added.

Asked about the Matang mangrove forest, he said:

"Matang is very well known now and is well protected.

"If eco-tourism does not harm the mangroves, we will continue with the move by the previous state government in promoting it as a tourist attraction."

The current state government, he assured, would not promote tourism at the expense of the environment.

Su, however, said that there were some concerns for the mangroves in Pantai Remis and Segari.

"They are slowly being destroyed by certain elements and there is a need to look into this," he said.

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