Guest guest Posted April 16, 2003 Report Share Posted April 16, 2003 This message was forwarded to you by yitzeling. Comment from sender: This article is from thestar.com.my URL: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/4/15/features/liredangs & sec\ =features ________________________ Tuesday, April 15, 2003 Marine park in distress Story and pictures by TAN CHENG LI One resort after another is springing up in Redang, raising a need for the authorities to keep a close eye on developments in the Pulau Redang Marine Park off the coast of Terengganu. A recent check showed mounds of red earth, coral rubble and construction waste on the shores, empty diesel drums floating in the sea, and open burning in several spots - hardly the scenes one would expect to find in a protected area known for its rich but sensitive ecology. IT WAS not a pretty picture. A huge mound of red soil carelessly heaped on the beach had eroded, staining the sea, sand and coral an unnatural red. Further up the coast, earth and coral rubble which had obviously been dredged from the sea had been thoughtlessly dumped on the rocky shore. Nearby, a suspicious oily substance oozed from the ground and ran down the beach into the sea. This is not a scene one would expect to find in a protected area such as the Pulau Redang Marine Park. And yet, the sorry sight greeted two officers from the Terengganu Department of Environment (DOE), an officer from the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) and this writer during a trip to the Terengganu island on April 3. The mess on this beach at a secluded bay called Teluk Tigi was the work of the Laguna Redang Island Resort. While building a jetty to enable its guests to come ashore without getting their feet wet, it has ignored measures to prevent impacting the island habitat. At Teluk Tigi, we saw no silt traps or silt screens which are common techniques used to prevent earth from escaping construction sites and fouling the surroundings. This was despite land-clearing for the resort & #8217;s sewage treatment plant, diesel tank storage, generator building, workers & #8217; quarters, canteen and a telecommunication tower. There were more blatant violations of environment protection guidelines within the 212-room resort grounds on Pasir Panjang beach, next to Teluk Tigi. We saw workers burning wood and cardboard in at least five spots, clearly flouting a DOE prohibition against open burning. Sullage & #8211; or wastewater from kitchens and bath areas & #8211; was not channelled into a waste treatment system such as septic tanks as required by the DOE. Instead, it flowed into an open ditch which led to a pond and was left to seep into the ground. The ditch was foul-smelling, while the pond was stagnant, smothered with green algae and infested with mosquitoes. On the beach fronting the resort, wood debris was strewn about. At a vacant plot further inland, wood planks and sticks were piled high. A resort staff said the construction waste will be covered with sand. DOE officer Jamaludin Shamsudin was not happy with what he saw. “These are severe violations of the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) approval conditions,” he said. He said DOE guidelines state that earth from land-clearing and dredging should not be dumped at the beach but disposed of at a proper site inland. Construction waste such as wood cannot be buried but must be shipped to the mainland for proper disposal. “The island cannot accept so much construction waste,” he said. Six days after the visit, the department issued a stop-work order on the jetty construction. It demanded that the developer conduct a hydraulic study on the effects of the jetty and seek approval for the structure from the Fisheries Department and the Drainage and Irrigation Department. A Fisheries Department officer revealed that Laguna Redang was not supposed to dredge the bay. The DOE will also issue a compound to the developer for open burning, an offence under the Environment Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 1978 which carries a maximum fine of RM2,000. The punishment meted out by the DOE is commendable but one cannot help but question if more should be done. After all, this is not the first time that Laguna Redang has flouted environment rules. In October, it was caught discharging untreated sewage and sullage into a stream which led straight into the sea. It also did not install silt traps to contain sediment from earthworks and had spilt diesel into a stream. Laguna Redang has fixed some of these problems following a DOE-issued notice but, as the recent visit showed, there are still many instances of negligence. What is more worrying is that discharges of silt and untreated wastewater have gone on for months. The DOE and Fisheries Depart-ment staff made no visits to the island during the monsoon season between November and March due to the rough seas. The recent visit was the DOE & #8217;s first for the year & #8211; and that too was prompted by a complaint from MNS. With the past record of non-compliance, one would have expected more stringent scrutiny of the development. Instead, DOE relies very much on self-monitoring. The developer & #8217;s EIA consultant submits quarterly environment monitoring reports. The last report, dated August, showed that all is well with the island & #8217;s air, stream and marine water. However, no report has been submitted on the digging and construction work at Teluk Tigi. If monitoring was done, it could have brought to light the lack of environment protection measures. The non-compliance should not be taken lightly. This is, after all, a protected marine park endowed with rich biodiversity and habitats particularly vulnerable to pollution and human disturbances. Breaching environment rules, particularly in a marine park, is a grave offence. In fact, it was deemed serious enough for the Kuala Terengganu Sessions Court to slap a fine of RM60,000 on a firm in February for building a resort on Pulau Perhentian without first doing an EIA. In the case of Laguna Redang, the offence is more severe since it has tainted the island & #8217;s surroundings. As it had not rained prior to our visit, the siltation at Teluk Tigi was not as bad as that filmed by a tourist last month. The video footage, which was given to MNS, showed a silted bay following a downpour. Laguna Redang had dredged a channel in the bay to allow for future boat traffic. Since Teluk Tigi has always been a shallow bay, MNS executive officer Andrew Sebastian fears dredging may become an annual affair because each monsoon will smother the area with more sand. “Continuous digging will churn up more silt. And just because the bay is littered with dead corals doesn & #8217;t mean that they can be removed. They are there for a reason and form a part of the bay habitat. Their removal might influence the hydrology of the sea and perhaps lead to erosion in another beach,” said Sebastian. From the coral rubble that has washed ashore at Teluk Tigi, many assume the area has nothing but dead corals. On the contrary, asserted a Fisheries Department officer, the bay hosts an expanse of calcareous corals (calcium-containing corals which erode to form sand). Further out to sea, the two capes which flank the bay are fringed with healthy reefs. The officer said the coral debris came from other areas and were deposited there by sea action. He also said that the department plans to transplant coral heads to safer grounds as it fears that boat traffic in the shallow water may damage the corals. During our visit, a resort staff kept assuring us that sullage discharge will be diverted to the sewage treatment plant once the facility is ready. That offers little consolation. It means that, for the past 17 months when the resort was under construction, polluting wastewater had soaked freely into the ground. Won & #8217;t it contaminate the ground water, which will be the resort & #8217;s main source of water for its guests? Jamaludin says the department will investigate sullage disposal at the construction site before issuing further directives to the developer. He says the developer may need to clear the pond to prevent runoffs or seepage of wastewater into the ground or the sea. To be fair, Laguna Redang has abided by some DOE rules. It is building a sewage treatment plant to render its effluent clean enough to meet DOE & #8217;s most stringent standards. It has also built bunds surrounding its diesel tanks to capture spills. These measures, however, may not amount to much if the crowd on the island keeps growing. More people means more rubbish, sewage, trampling of corals, noise and, ultimately, more environmental degradation. As more land is cleared for new structures and paved over, freshwater runoffs from the island will surge. We observed that discharges from a stormwater drain between two resorts on Pasir Panjang had scoured a section of the beach. Too much of such runoffs may eventually tilt the delicately balanced marine environment that nurtures the island & #8217;s prized coral reefs. To ensure that tourists can still reach the island during the monsoon, Berjaya Redang Beach Resort built a 1.1km airstrip. Mangrove trees were sacrificed for that development, which also caused siltation in Teluk Siang. This happened again on March 21 when silt traps built at the airstrip site failed to contain runoffs. The muddy water reached the nearby island of Pulau Pinang, disclosed a Fisheries Department staff. There are other careless habits too. During the recent trip, litter marred the beach. We saw diesel drums left floating in the sea by resort operators. Growing energy needs require more and more fuel to be shipped to the island. This increases risk of spillage. The resulting oily waste, if not sent back to the mainland for safe disposal, will tarnish the island & #8217;s pristine environment. Many have asked: “What is a 212-room resort & #8211; with quad-sharing rooms & #8211; doing in a marine park?” Surely such ecologically-rich but sensitive areas should only have low density development? And yet, besides the spanking new Laguna Redang, many of the other 12 resorts have expanded to boost visitor numbers. Unfortunately, not all have upgraded their sewage treatment plants despite a DOE deadline to do so by March. Scientists and conservation groups have repeatedly warned that Redang has reached, or even exceeded, its carrying capacity. But is anyone listening?<p> ________________________ Your one-stop information portal: The Star Online http://thestar.com.my http://biz.thestar.com.my http://classifieds.thestar.com.my http://cards.thestar.com.my http://search.thestar.com.my http://star-motoring.com http://star-space.com http://star-jobs.com http://star-ecentral.com http://star-techcentral.com 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Star Publications is prohibited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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