KUALA LUMPUR: The East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project owner has carried out a wildlife management plan to minimise the impact of the railway on wildlife and habitats in forests.
The plan was formulated through collaboration between the project's main contractor, China Communications Construction (ECRL) Sdn Bhd (CCC-ECRL), and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan).
CCC-ECRL has allocated a grant of more than RM9 million to Perhilitan to carry out wildlife surveys, surveillance and conflict mitigation, said Malaysia Rail Link (MRL) head of environment Norhasrul Abu Hassan.
CCC-ECRL and Perhilitan signed a supplementary agreement in September last year to boost the implementation of wildlife conservation and mitigation works along the rail alignment under the plan.
He said 27 wildlife crossings had been proposed, 11 of which would be built in Kemasul Forest in Pahang for elephants, tapir and sun bears to traverse the area.
"The wildlife box culverts (wildlife crossings) in Kemasul have a height of 5.3m and a width of 6m.
"We designed larger wildlife box culverts here as we anticipate herds of elephants roaming the area," he said during a visit to the wildlife crossing sites in Kemasul on Monday.
He said the plan would also ensure that all development before, during and after the construction of the ECRL was done according to the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and the Forestry Act 1984.
"The wildlife crossings vary in lengths of between 15m and 75m, after taking into consideration the topography and size of the animals involved.
"The Kemasul crossings are expected to be completed by the end of this year."
He said the ECRL project had taken environmental safeguards into consideration with design modifications along its rail alignment.
"The original provision was for us to use about 2,000ha of forest land to build the alignment.
"However, we reduced the forest land usage by 90 per cent to 276ha through the construction of more than 50 tunnels totalling 61km and alignment modifications."
MRL is the project and asset owner of ECRL, which will traverse Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang before linking with the Klang Valley.
The project is expected to be completed by December 2026 and ready for operation by January 2027. Bernama