Northern Region News October 19, 2005 20:17 PM Pulau Payar To Be Temporarily Closed To The Public Next Year ALOR STAR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- The state government is planning to close Pulau Payar to the public for three to four months beginning next year to protect the coral reefs and marine life and to enable cleaning works to be carried out on the marine park. Acting Menteri Besar Datuk Mahdzir Khalid said the park would be closed when during the monsoon season besides ensuring that all boats entering Pulau Payar had certificates, which were currently not required. Studies by a company on the physical and biological aspects of the island found that 10 zones suffered damages on the coral reefs and marine life in Pulau Payar, he told reporters after chairing the exco meeting at Wisma Darul Aman here. Mahdzir said the company, Satang Environmental Sdn Bhd, had presented a preliminary report to the state government and stated that the damages on the coral reefs in the marine park was between eight and 83 per cent in 10 zones, an average of 25 per cent, believed to be caused by man. He said the state government was seriously considering the preliminary report on the first phase of the three phases of the study from September to Nov 15, this year even though the damages were still considered not critical. Hence, he said among the other measures included setting up a committee headed by exco for Culture, Arts and Tourism, Nawawi Ahmad, to search for the best way and solutions to solve the problem. "The state government will ask for the opinion from the marine experts in Universiti Sains Malaysia on the problem," he said. Mahdzir said the chalets in Pulau Payar were expected to be occupied by the researchers beginning next month and the state government would be upgrading other facilities such as clean water supply and toilets. He said the researchers conducting their studies could stay overnight at Pulau Payar while tourists could only make day trips to the island. -- BERNAMA