PEKAN: Tasik Chini, Malaysia's second-largest freshwater lake here, is likely to be gazetted as a state park and forest reserve to make it a recreational destination for tourists.
Pahang Tourism, Culture, Environment, Plantations and Commodities Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsudin said the state government would stop mining and logging around Tasik Chini to enable its rehabilitation.
Sharkar said the executive council also agreed that Tasik Chini, famous for a legend of a dragon and lotus flowers, should be gazetted as a permanent forest reserve so that "it cannot be tampered with or destroyed at will".
"Steps to gazette this area need to be taken so that the future generation can enjoy the beauty of nature in a pristine condition.
"This will enable Tasik Chini to recover within 10 to 20 years," he said after officiating at the state-level National Environment Day Celebration programme at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Lake Chini Research Centre here on Saturday.
Present were state Tourism general manager Datuk Ishak Mokhtar, Environment Department director Mohd Sani Mat Daud and Broadcasting Department director Ariffin Awang. -- Bernama