Southern Region News November 10, 2009 19:40 PM Johor Adheres To Logging Quota, Says Menteri Besar JOHOR BAHARU, Nov 10 (Bernama) -- Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said today the state government adhered to the logging quota to ensure there was no indiscriminate felling of forest trees. Denying that forest management in the state was reportedly unsatisfactory and weak, he said logging in the state was carried out through open tender with the annual quota fixed at 2,500 hectares. "After the Forestry Department identifies an area, we open the tender. This has been going on over the last 20 years," he told reporters after the signing of an agreement on the implementation of the e-local authority (e-PBT) system among the state government, local authorities and MSC Cyberport Sdn Bhd, and the launch of the Johor e-Payment portal, here. Abdul Ghani was asked to comment on the Auditor-General's Report of 2008 which had stated that forest management was unsatisfactory in Kelantan, Pahang, Johor dan Sarawak. The report cited illegal logging, logging in forest reserves or national parks and less effective control and enforcement by the relevant authorities as some of the factors which contributed to the problem. Abdul Ghani said encroachment into forest areas could have happened at one time to open up land for villages or farms, but added that it did not take place any longer. "Forests in the state were also felled at one time to overcome poverty. About 175,000 hectares have been felled for development by Felda, Felcra and the Johor Tenggara Development Authority (Kejora), involving 30,000 families," he said. In his speech earlier, Abdul Ghani said the government, with the support of the private sector, was planning the development of the MSC Cyberport city early next year, which was expected to drive the MSC Malaysia information technology industry in Iskandar Malaysia. He said the development would generate an environment of international standard with the government sensitive to the needs of the people and foreign investors. -- BERNAMA