THE Coniferous Forest Park in Bukit Tinggi, Pahang, has become an eyesore, with facilities not properly maintained and falling into disrepair.
Checks by Actionline, following complaints from visitors, found rubbish strewn everywhere. Many stools and tables were broken and have exposed sharp edges, which pose a danger to visitors.
The grass was knee-high.
A visitor who was there with his family said he was disappointed with the unkempt state of the park.
“I had high expectations of the park. When I read about it online, I could not wait to visit because this is among the few places in Malaysia where you can see coniferous trees. I am really disappointed,” he said.
“Why didn’t anyone maintain this place? This could have been a beautiful tourist destination, especially for foreigners, since the forest offers something different,” said the visitor’s family member who only wanted to be identified as Lim.
Basic facilities like toilets were extremely dirty and could not be used as the taps were broken.
The mini playground outside the forest was in a bad state and overgrown with weed and grass.
The playground’s equipment was rusty, with broken sharp edges that pose a danger to kids.
ACTIONLINE:
The Pahang Forestry Department cited lack of manpower for the poorly-maintained natural forest reserves in the state.
Its director, Datuk Dr Mohd Hizamri Mohd Yasin, said the department needed at least 300 more employees to be able to manage all the natural reserves in Pahang.
“It has been a few years already. Without enough staff, we cannot maintain a lot of the forest reserves in Pahang,” he told Actionline.
He said his department was open to discussion with any private entities that were willing to take over the maintenance of forest reserves in Pahang.
“We are not thinking too much about the profit that could be gained from privatisation. Rather, we are more concerned about how the forests can be maintained and become a tourist attraction once again.
“We are open to both the ideas of privatisation of the forests or having local communities help maintain the forests since the department is short on manpower,” he said.
He thanked Actionline for highlighting the problem to the department and said he would personally look into all issues pertaining to the maintenance of forest reserves in Pahang.
“I will take this as a challenge to try and improve the forest reserves.”
Prior to this, Bentong Forestry assistant officer Mohd Yusof Othman had instructed officers from three districts in Pahang to help clean up the forest after Actionline raised the issue.
He said to thoroughly clean and maintain the place would take a while due to staff shortage, but officers had already cut the grass, tidied up the place and cleaned up the rubbish.
The playground and broken wire mesh would be repaired when the department received an allocation, he said.
