Perlis to implement land reclamation project

KANGAR: A land reclamation project will be implemented along the coast of Perlis covering a total area of 650 hectares, Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Md Isa Sabu told the State Assembly on Tuesday, July 5.

He said the area covered in the reclamation project was between Kuala Perlis and Kuala Sanglang.

Answering an oral question from Mat bin Hassan (BN-Kuala Perlis), he said the state government had approved in principle the project in February.

He added that four companies — OM Land Sdn Bhd, Sekutu Saujana Development (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Setia Jaya Global Sdn Bhd and Juruelit Sdn Bhd — had offered to carry out the project but the state goverrmment had not made a final decision yet.

He said the project was expected to meet development requirements in the future especially in the maritime, tourism and services sectors.

Meanwhile, State Agriculture, Agro-based Industry and Co-operative Development Committee chairman Sabry Ahmad told the assembly that a total of 110 fishermen in the state were found to be still using the push net method, which is banned under the Fisheries Act 1985.

He told Mat bin Hassan (Kuala Perlis) the use of push nets had damaged the coastal ecosystem and disrupted the life cycle of sea resources including fish and prawns.

He added that stricter enforcement would be carried out to fix the problem.

To a question from Khairi Hassan (BN-Mata Air), Sabri said a total 362.79 tonnes of Harumanis mango valued at RM2.5 million was harvested statewide this season.

He said the state goverment was empowering the production of the commodity by implementing a special agriculture transformation programme, beside other expansion programmes.

He also said, the state government would build a RM820,000 gathering, grading and distribution complex for the commodity in Berseri, Perlis. — Bernama