When a Shell tanker skidded near the water catchment centre in Batu 12 Jalan Tapah-Cameron Highlands on Saturday, 31 July 2010, the Perak government wanted the oil company, Shell, to bear the full cost of the resultant oil spill.

Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir says Shell should be held responsible for any damage and losses caused by the spill. He said, “Oil spill is not a small matter because it will have an impact on the environment, and in this case, to the Perak Water Supply Authority’s water catchment centre at Batu 10, Bukit Temoh. The state government will ask for the necessary compensation, especially concerning the state’s water resources”.

Could Datuk Zambry please apply the same concern and importance to another water catchment area?

This is the water catchment area which supplies water to the 500,000 residents in the Larut-Matang-Selama district.

The residents there will suffer from the Bukit Larut cable car project. Incredibly, the MB brushed aside an Environment Impact Assessment for Bukit Larut.

Maybe the residents of Taiping should be asking the Perak state government and Taiping Cable Car Sdn Bhd for compensation?

Sustainable tourism is not possible with non-sustainable numbers. Can the hills cope with 1000 visitors per hour, that is, about 8000 per day? How much more concrete amenities are needed? How many of the cable cars will be constantly carrying rubbish to be disposed of in Taiping. Were you thinking that rubbish should be left up there? What about sewerage treatment and disposal?

Keep the ecologically and physically fragile Larut a nature lover’s hill resort for tranquil, low impact tourism. It will get more popular if kept low-key for the right tourists, not the rushed day-trippers; but, not if the cable car goes ahead. While these hills are permanently scarred, what are the chances for it not to become a white elephant?

Taiping does not need to compete with other developed hills. Please stop the project before you create another environmental disaster and deprive the people of a natural hill destiination.