MB fumes over felling of trees at campus site

DUNGUN: Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said blew his top when he discovered that 277ha of a forest tract meant to be a green lung for a UiTM campus had been felled.
The trees were to be preserved for the new campus – being built under a learning institution in a forest concept – in Bukit Besi near here.
The Mentri Besar made an unscheduled visit to the construction site of the RM100mil campus covering 440ha during his tour of the Bukit Besi mining area yesterday, catching the engineers and architects there by surprise.
Ahmad Said demanded officers of the Dungun Land and Mines Department show him the site plan that had been approved by the state government.
He discovered that the contractor had felled trees over a sizeable tract, about 277ha, that was supposed to surround the campus. That was when his mercury shot up.
The incensed Ahmad Said then directed one of his officers to summon the contractor’s representative at the site.