Masidi defends EPD over EIA for shrimp project

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KOTA KINABALU: The Environment Protection Department (EPD) has done its job professionally and it is not the department’s job to please everyone, said Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.

Even if Sabah Environmental Protection Association (SEPA) is unhappy over the EPD’s decision, the department cannot be expected to make everyone happy.

“I believe the EPD director Datuk Yabi Yangkat has done his job professionally.

“Their (EPD) job is not to please everyone. Their job is to do their job and what needs to be done under the law. I believe they have done it well,” Masidi said to the media after chairing the 10th Sabah International Folklore Festival (SIFF) 2015 here yesterday.

He was commenting on the issue of SEPA questioning the decision made by EPD on the proposed shrimp aquaculture development project in the Telaga River, Pitas.

On January 16, SEPA president Lanash Thanda said the association was baffled with the revelation by EPD that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed shrimp aquaculture project had been approved.

She claimed that the association was never consulted nor informed about the decision to approve the project despite being one of the three non-governmental organizations sitting in the review panel responsible for assessing the EIA.

Lanash said it was normal procedure based on previous cases that a new EIA should be submitted and be reviewed by the panel in the event of the initial report being rejected.

She said the move by EPD to deviate from this norm had raised a lot of questions and suspicions on the EIA approval and the department owed the public and panel members further clarification on what had actually transpired throughout the process.

The shrimp aquaculture project is a joint venture project between Sunlight Inno Seafood Sdn Bhd and Inno Fisheries Sdn Bhd under the Yayasan Sabah Group.

Several days after Lanesh made the statement, Yabi said the final decision of the review of the EIA report was the discretion of the EPD director and therefore SEPA should not be overly disappointed for not being referred to again on the review of the EIA report for the proposed shrimp aquaculture project.

Yabi has said that the department was not obliged to refer any matters back to the review panel members before making any final decision.

Meanwhile, SEPA member Wong Tack yesterday said the mega project is being developed without the necessary Environment Impact Assessment.

“Thousands of acres of mangrove are involved and it is proven all this while that shrimp farms are never successful. And (yet) you enter into such a massive project and destroy the environment. If the shrimp farm fails, how can the people make a living because they depend on a healthy eco-system to make a living,” he said.

According to Wong Tack, the EIA as well as environmental protection laws and policies are made by the government.

“So all we want is that they (the government) comply with the law. Go through the proper procedure. We never say that you cannot develop but go through the proper procedure,” he said.

“We know he is concerned about this issue and we also understand the pressure EDP director is under but I think it is time for the ministry which is mandated to protect the environment to make its stand,” he said.