KUALA LUMPUR: The Raub District Council did not require an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to be submitted for the development of the 15-storey Fraser's Hill Resort and Spa, said the developer in the middle of the controversy.
"We have complied with conditions set by the authority to get the development order and if they said it (EIA) was needed, we would have done it," iKHASAS group chief executive Tan Chee Kian told the New Sunday Times.
He said the stop-work order was issued to allow the developer to incorporate old English features into its landscaping and design features.
The stop-work order, however, did not call for the developer to scale down the development on the hill station.
He stood by his earlier statement when asked if he was willing to do an EIA or by extension a social impact assessment, to appease the public.
His architect, who was present in the meeting, claimed that they were not building on Class 3 or beyond slopes, or inclines at a gradient above 25 degrees, and since the land area was under 4.05h, they were not bound by the requirement.
"There would be minimum cutting as we will preserve the hill and build on top of the platform.
"We will not change the land use under the local plan, which is marked commercial," added the consultant.
He said what needed to be done was to ensure the slope was fortified.
"Almost 90 per cent of the hill is between Class 1 and 2, which means they are safe to build on. There are few localised areas being retained as they are, which explains why we didn't get an EIA on this."
When asked why a social impact assessment report was not done, Tan said surveys had been done extensively to protect the company's investment in the hamlet, and added that no investor was willing to dump hundreds of millions of ringgit into a project for it to turn into a white elephant.
"But our surveys did find a lot of white elephants and abandoned buildings in the area, besides a dearth in buildings that are comfortable for visitors.
"The main complaint of visitors is that there is no comfortable accommodation in the area.
"It's a chicken-and-egg situation.
"If you don't offer a comfortable accommodation, no one will come here and stay."
Tan said the firm was targeting a 60 per cent to 70 per cent occupancy rate for the 180-odd rooms it planned to build there as a solution to the lodging issue on the hill station.
Asked if he was willing to scale down the development, he said "no".
"We are not widening roads and our staff quarters are on site,"
he said, adding that they were looking to adopt and retrofit a disused trail nearby with better facilities.
"As a friendly party and a stakeholder in Fraser's Hill, I'd like to invite community groups and their representatives to our monthly meetings," he said, adding that those interested in attending the meetings could write to enquiry@ikhasas.com.
He said the firm would source workers from Fraser's Hill first to fill up the 360 job vacancies that would come with the establishment of the resort.
He said this following a dialogue with Persatuan Alam dan Warisan Bukit Fraser here recently.