KOTA KINABALU, April 30 — The mega shrimp farm accused by a group of villagers of taking away their mangrove land has disputed the allegations, saying the land was always gazetted for fisheries and part of its initial plan.

Sunlight Inno Seafood chief executive officer King Wong said the company successfully applied for 3,300 acres in the Kampung Datong area in Pitas, but was only granted 2,300 acres due to a technical problem.

“The 1,000 acres we are now applying for was part of the initial plan. We are commencing a new environmental impact assessment study now but this is definitely not an expansion,” he said.

King said the company had started building bunds on the land when it was thought to have been approved earlier, but stopped when it was issued a stop work order.

The land in dispute is also part of over 9,000 acres that has been gazetted for fishery activities since 1983, he explained. King added that the 1,000 acres in particular used to be harvested for mangrove trees used in piling, but the demand for this is on the decline.

“There is no rush for the approval of the land now, we are going through the due process,” he said.

On Wednesday, a group of 11 villagers met with reporters to air their grievances with the shrimp park, fearing that project would take away another 1,000 acres of mangrove land on which they claimed to be dependent.

The group calling themselves the G6 committee and led by native Mastupang Somoi told a press conference that some 2,500 villagers from Kampung Telaga, Kampung Gumpa, Kampung Ungkup, Kampung Boluuh Skim, Kampung Datong and Kampung Sungai Eloi objected to the project expansion.

He claimed the 2,300 acre farm has significantly depleted resources and affected the livelihood of subsistence farmers and fishermen in the area and also failed to keep its promise of providing infrastructure and ample job opportunities to the people.

Addressing claims of disrupting the livelihood of the villagers, King said that the benefits of such a large project far exceeded their current subsistence practises.

“I’m positive that any temporary loss of livelihood will be offset by the economic benefits that will eventually set in for the villagers of Pitas once our factory is fully operational,” said King, adding that progress to the project was done in phases.

King, who brought several media to its shrimp park in Pitas said that the development has employed more than a hundred locals, rather that 30 as claimed, and will employ 3,000 native workers as promised when fully operational.

“But at the current stage of some 3.5 per cent of operations, we haven’t begun employing lots of people. The factory will be ready by 2016 and we plan to be fully operational by the third quarter of 2017,” he said.

King also rejected claims that the firm did not fulfil its promise to provide infrastructure such as water, electricity and roads, explaining that it has built roads and installed electricity cables, but was not responsible for supplying water.

He also doubted the group’s claim that some 2,500 people from six villagers objected to the project.

“I do not think the population at these six villagers even reaches 2,500. The total population of these six villages is only about 2,242 people, of which three of the villages with 687 residents are not even part of this project or share a common border.

“Thus it is absolutely impossible for that amount of people to object to the project. Furthermore, people from three of the villages are currently working with the company or reaping income from the company,” he said.

Villagers from Kampung Telaga, one of the six villages said to be represented, held an ad hoc gathering Thursday to dispute the G6’s complaints that were reported by Malay Mail Online.

The Village Development and Security Committee head of Telaga Norsal Ejal said that the village fully supported SunLight’s project even though it has yet to see tangible results.

“We’ve always had a good relationship with them and we trust that they will bring a lot of benefit to the people in the end,” he said.

His counterpart from Kampung Datong, Maldan Abdul also said he backed the project, and claimed that the mangrove swamps were barely used by the villagers.

He also contested the claimed number of villagers objecting to the project.

“I also don’t think there are 2,000 people who will object to the project. There isn’t more than 2,000 people in the six villages,” he said.

The RM1.23 billion project, known as the Pitas Shrimp Park, is a joint venture between Yayasan Sabah’s Inno-Fisheries Sdn Bhd and Sun­light Seafood (Sabah) Sdn Bhd.