GEORGE TOWN, Nov 25 — The state government downplayed illegal land clearing activities in Penang, calling it “small scale” despite a national audit revealing 268 privately owned plots of land  were being worked on without approval since 2012.

The third series of the 2014 Auditor-General’s Report, released on Monday, also focused on the construction of 11 illegal hill slope structures, including hotels and chalets, in Sungai Ara, Teluk Bahang, Balik Pulau and Teluk Kumbar. Restaurants operating in Balik Pulau also did not have any business licences, the report said.

Local Government, Traffic Management and Flood Mitigation committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said the privately owned land were cleared by farmers for farming activities and to build small houses.

“More than 200 illegal land clearing cases were detected by the local council over the past four years and many of them were issued summonses and were required to plant trees on the cleared land,” he said.

“Most of the cases were small-scale where farmers cleared the land to plant, build access roads and small houses ... not so much of project developments. The projects proceeded without obtaining approvals for earthwork plans.”

Chow said the state authorities were doing their jobs as they reported even the smallest cases of land clearing, as revealed in the audit, and insisted there was nothing to hide.

He said this after visiting the Pulau Tikus wet market yesterday.

The Auditor-General noted weakness in the state government’s administration in tackling land clearing issues. The report stated the lack of surveying and weak enforcement, as well as lack of coordination between agencies, had led to the illegal land clearing activities, especially involving water catchment areas.

It was stated that out of 31 illegal land-clearing activities reported this year, only five were fined while the rest were either still being processed or had yet to be charged in court.

Chow said the law provided limited powers to the local council.

“We can always summon and charge the offenders in court. However, the fine is low and the offenders are still taking the risk. They also often ignore the stop-work order.

“We will continue to serve summons and require land owners to reinstate the land. But probably our enforcement has to be tightened and land owners must be more responsible,” he said.

The Penang City Council had been unable to collect assessment tax from the owners of the 11 illegal structures, the report added.

“The Audit’s visits between May 20 and July 20 found earthworks, land excavation and slope cutting were done without approval from the council and as it does not take into account the requirements of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA),” the report said.

The Auditor-General’s report also touched on violation of a notice to stop earthworks during the audit visits between June 8 and July 28 which found that five landowners who had been issued the notice were still carrying out works. The land lots involved one each in Teluk Kumbar and Teluk Bahang plus three more in Bukit Bendera.

“The situation has come about due to the failure of the council to monitor and patrol regularly after notices had been issued to the landowners. The effects can lead to the risk of soil erosion, landslides and mudslides,” the report said.