IT may be the coolest place in Pahang but Cameron Highlands is a water-stressed district in the state.

A resident of Carnation Park, Vasu Karupiah, said that overdevelopment has affected the water catchment areas in the highlands and that illegal vegetable farms are placing tremendous strain on the water supply. The situation is further compounded by the influx of tourists during the holiday seasons.

“During peak season, the flow is controlled, and this housing estate is at the end of the supply line, so we often end up without any water,” he lamented.

As Carnation Park, a mixed housing estate comprising four-storey apartments, link-houses, low- to medium-cost flats and bungalows – and 570 households – is close to the Mentigi Forest Reserve which has clear running streams, residents have resorted to siphoning the water off the hills.

They claimed that they had no choice as they could not cope with the frequent water disruptions. A check in the hills showed rubber pipes lining the paths, transferring mountain stream water into huge rubber water containers which are then directed to individual homes.

Other residents said it was a shame that the water supply is getting contaminated as more water catchment areas are contaminated due to soil erosion and the leeching of agro-chemicals from indiscriminate land-clearing and farming practices.

Tung Wan Fee, who used to picnic atop Gunung Jasar, said the highest pylon is perched precariously on the ridge. He expressed concern that any further disturbance could destabilise the slope and cause the pylon to collapse.

Many Kandasamy, a resident of Block B of the SEDC flats located on a hillock, said he learnt that the controversial Kampung Anggerik development project will stretch from Carnation Park to the slopes surrounding the flats.

“We have a water tower here that might collapse if the slope is disturbed. We’ve not been told what exactly the project entails. How can a housing project on these slopes be approved?” he said, gesturing towards the slopes that are presently covered in thick vegetation.

CAMERON HIGHLANDS: This famous hill resort is no stranger to bad press, environmentally speaking.

From landslides to rising temperatures, from illegal land use to river contamination, the famous hill station is threatened by overdevelopment.

With the scarcity of flat land, development projects have inevitably encroached into forbidden zones. The latest involves a settlement scheme on a hilly terrain within Mentigi Forest Reserve and Gunung Jasar.

Last May 4, bulldozers cut a 500m trail into the forest reserve, uprooting the old growth and silting creeks that feed into Sungai Tela, a major water source of Cameron Highlands.

A signboard declared that the clearing is for phase one of Kampung Tersusun (Melayu) Anggerik undertaken by the chairman of the Desa Anggerik Development Committee. There is no mention of the architect, geotechnical engineer and developer.

But the earthwork stopped abruptly four days later. Sources said a stop-work order was issued by the District Office, signed by its Chief Assistant District Officer Mohd Isa Awang Chik, purportedly following complaints from the Drainage and Irrigation Department over the absence of silt prevention measures during the construction of the access road.

For the last eight months, residents of Carnation Park and their neighbours in Lembah Jasar, who live next to the project and had opposed it, have been left in the dark over the fate of the project. The residents numbering approximately 2,800, are wary that the project might be allowed to resume later.

A resident, who only wanted to be identified as Mrs Chong, said the residents first heard about plans to develop the forest reserve in 2005.

“We collected (signatures for) a petition and submitted it to the Mentri Besar. Then everything went quiet. Right after the March 8 general election (in 2008), word went around that part of the reserve had been degazetted and turned into a Malay reserve, and that temporary land titles had been issued to the Desa Anggerik Committee.

“We are shocked that a human settlement is going to be located on such steep slopes. It will endanger the would-be occupants as well as we who live at the fringe of the hill,” she said.

An area of 562ha was gazetted in 1933 as the Mentigi Forest Reserve but a total of 203ha were already excised over the years, with the largest plot being 192ha in 1996.

She said Gunung Jasar is prone to erosion, as evident from the occurrence of several landslides along the TNB pylon; the area was destablished when the transmitter structures were erected. Chong expressed concern that future phases of the housing project will creep into steeper terrains.

She insisted that the petition was not against the creation of a Malay village but was an appeal for the project to be relocated to a safer place.

According to the Local Plan, the project site falls into Class 3 (above 26° gradient) and Class 4 (above 35° gradient) slopes which are environmentally sensitive areas that should not have any form of physical development.

Nevertheless, the project claimed that it had obtained a “work permit” from the Land and District Office, as declared on its signboard.

District officer Datuk Mohamad Noor Abdul Rani, however, refused to be interviewed. He conveyed a message of “no comments” through his personal assistant.

When contacted, Desa Anggerik Committee chairman Usop Yong also declined comment.

“The matter is with the state government. No comments,” he said.

Meanwhile, the contractor for the project – Alam Rimba Sdn Bhd – when approached in Tanah Rata in June last year confirmed that a stop-work order was issued in the early days of the project but said the directive came from Kuantan, the state administrative centre.

“The state government instructed that all hill slope projects be stopped temporarily. The rest of it, I don’t know. I’m just the contractor,” said its director Capt (Rtd) Azman Ahmad.

However, he claimed that the title for the land was approved 15 years ago.

“We discussed with the Land and District Office and the State Govern-ment the shortage of land for the growing population of Malays in Cameron Highlands. Those given the lots are Malays who live in the town, like civil servants, business operators and pensioners. They are low-income earners.”

When asked about safety measures, he explained that the cutting of the slope will be limited to a built-up area of around 278sqm in a lot measuring 501sqm to 929sqm.

The building plan obtained indicated that there would be 80 lots on the 13ha site. Overlaying the plan on the Local Plan clearly showed the type of terrain the development will be located on (see graphic).

He said the building plan was drawn up by the Town and Country Planning Department and submitted to the Land and District Office for approval.

He later turned hostile and questioned this reporter’s intention. “Is this going to be a positive or negative story? Are you trying to jeopardise a project for the Malays?”

Last July, residents brought their concerns to the attention of the Public Complaints Bureau (PCB).

Following its inspection of the site on Sept 20 by two of its officers, accompanied by a land and district senior officer, state PCB director Azlan Shah Abdul Latif informed Chong (the complainant) that the case was closed as there was no evidence of earthwork that contravened the stop-work order and that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating the case which it has listed as case No.48793.

The state Malaysian Anti-Corrup-tion Commission has not found any element of corruption in the development of the project in Kampung Tersusun Melayu Angerik.

Pahang MACC Director Datuk Sutinah Sutan said the commission had received complaints and reports from the public alleging corrupt practises.

“We investigated each and every allegation and found that the problem was more towards administrative than corrruption.

“Nonetheless we will continue to keep an eye on the project to ensure there is no hanky panky involved,’’ she told The Star.

She appealed to the public to contact or provide the MACC with information if they knew of any corrupt practises that took place either involving the project or any other deals.