KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Green Conservation Foundation (MPOGCF) has spent 78 per cent of the cess allocation, amounting to RM31.86 million, for tree planting and habitat restoration.
Ministry of Plantation and Commodities (KPK) Deputy Minister Chan Foong Hin said the amount includes expenses since its establishment in 2019 until October 2024.
“This year, MPOCGF has spent RM8.58 million from the allocation,“ he said at the Special Chamber Session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question by Teresa Kok (PH-Seputeh) regarding the collection of cess in the MPOGCF since it was established and how much has been spent until October 2024.
Meanwhile, Chan said a total of RM2.64 million had been channeled as at October 31, 2024, including RM557,115 for 2024 to the MPOGCF for the 1 Million Tree Planting Project (Rehabilitation of Orangutan Habitat in Sabah).
He said the Million Tree Planting Project has been divided into five phases, of which phase one has been completed while phase two is ongoing.
“The implementation of the project during phase one and two (to plant 100,000 forest trees) experienced a slight delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The strict guidelines and criteria for planting forest trees by the Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) caused the implementation of phase three, which is to plant 300,000 forest trees according to the existing budget, to be delayed,“ he added.
