GEORGE TOWN, Feb 18 — Accused of indiscriminately removing trees, Penang state executive councillor Chow Kon Yeow defended the Pakatan Harapan government’s commitment to a green environment, saying it has planted nearly 300,000 trees since taking power eight years ago.
The local government and traffic management committee chairman said the state along with various organisations and local communities had planted a total of 271,028 trees between 2008 and 2015.
“The Penang state government wants to reiterate its commitment to a green environment in the state,” he said in a statement issued today, in response to criticisms by Penang Consumers Association (CAP) over plans to transplant trees along a stretch of main road in Greenlane.
He appealed to CAP to understand that the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) will take effort to reduce the number of trees affected by the road widening project in Jalan Masjid Negeri in Greenlane.
“Cutting or transplanting about 18 trees will not undermine our commitment for a greener Penang,” he said.
He added that the state is equally accountable to road users who expects solutions from MBPP to clear traffic congestion along that stretch.
He denied allegations by CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris that the tree transplanting by MBPP as an alternative to chopping the trees was a bluff.
“To get the record straight, 30 of 34 trees transplanted because of the road widening projects from Udini roundabout to Jalan Delima have survived and are going well,” he pointed out in a statement issued this morning.
Later, in a press conference, MBPP Engineering department deputy director A.Rajendran said only 16 trees will be removed from the stretch and all will be transplanted to an open green space along Jalan Batu Lanchang.
“The trees will thrive in that space as it is wider for it to grow,” he said.
