KUCHING, April 25 — The Sarawak Land and Survey Department has issued a stop-work order against a quarry operating within the Dered Krian National Park in Bau district, after 150 villagers led by two state Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers held a protest at the site yesterday.
Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said the stop-work order took effect today.
“We will review the quarry licence, and if necessary, we will revoke it,” he told Malay Mail Online.
Awang Tengah, who had earlier chaired the State Cabinet Committee on Performance and Service Delivery Transformation meeting at the State Operations Centre, said the quarry licence was issued in the 1980s and renewed in 2006.
“But the area, of about 1,339ha, was gazetted as a national park on October 3, 2013,” he said, when asked to comment on the protest led by Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep and Serembu assemblyman Miro Simuh.
The Dered Krian National Park is known for its limestone forest, caves and mountains. It is located about 10 minutes’ drive from Bau town.
The protesters had wanted the state government to review the licence issued to the quarry company.
Jinep had told reporters yesterday that the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) had explored the area from 2001 to 2003 before it was gazetted as a national park and discovered several new species of plants and freshwater crabs.
Last year, there was a scientific expedition organised by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and the Forest Department, which resulted in the discovery of new endemic species of flora and fauna there.
Jinep believed that the limestone caves contain archaeological secrets that have yet to be excavated by the Sarawak Museum.
