PETALING JAYA: The Selangor state government will hold further discussions on its plan to centralise the state’s pig farming industry in Bukit Tagar after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called for the project to be cancelled.
State tourism and local government executive councillor Ng Suee Lim said the state executive council is waiting for menteri besar Amirudin Shari to call for a meeting, Utusan Malaysia reported.
Ng also said that no approval had been granted by the Hulu Selangor Municipal Council for the construction of the centralised pig farm.
“There is no problem. We will discuss it. The issue was only recently raised by the prime minister. However, at the local council level, there has been no progress yet,” he was quoted as saying.
Anwar had called on the Selangor government to cancel its plan and consider a “more appropriate location” for the initiative. He said he would discuss the matter with Amirudin.
This came despite agriculture and food security minister Mohamad Sabu saying the federal government had no objections to the plan, provided the area is deemed suitable from both an environmental and management perspective.
Earlier this month, the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, disagreed with the state government’s plan to centralise the state’s pig farming industry in Hulu Selangor.
While he acknowledged the need for small-scale, controlled farming of pigs to meet the needs of non-Muslims in Selangor, he said large-scale farming was unnecessary and insensitive given the fact that Muslims make up the majority of the Selangor population.
Selangor agriculture committee chairman Izham Hashim had previously said the centralisation of the pig farming industry in Bukit Tagar would ensure the sector is managed cleanly and systematically without affecting the environment or local communities.
Izham said about 202ha in Bukit Tagar, including a buffer zone, had been identified for the purpose, which will see the implementation of a closed farming system with zero emissions.
