18 theSun | TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 2008

speak up!

Make development
control transparent
IN THE aftermath of the
Bukit Antarabangsa hillslope
failure on Dec 6 that cost
four lives, destroyed 14
houses and caused miseries
to thousands of nearby
residents, national and
state leaders promised
that landslide tragedies
would not happen again.
All development projects in
Bukit Antarabangsa have
been frozen.
The parliamentary
public accounts committee
has called for new laws,
including copying those from
Hongkong. In Pahang, the
local authorities have been
directed to refer property
development applications to
the state government. The
Federal Territory Ministry
has frozen development on
Class 4 terrain, meaning
land with above 35° slope.
While this flurry of
activities is expected, they
are knee-jerk reactions. The
problem is not inadequate
laws or policies, but
ineffective development
control.
For instance,
development on Classes 3
and 4 hillslopes – terrain
above 25° slope – has been
discouraged for sometime.
In fact, Selangor has banned
development projects on
these areas since June 2008.
Despite protests and appeals
from interested parties, it
held fast to the decision
(theSun, Aug 27).
Indeed, even if Malaysia
were to adopt legislations
similar to Hongkong’s laws
on hillside development,
it would be useless if
development control laws or
maintenance procedures are
not complied with and the
anti-corruption mechanisms
are weak. No wonder, most
Malaysians are sceptical,
indeed cynical, of the
promises. The urgent task
is to ensure a more effective
development control.
Despite media attention
on national and state leaders
visiting the disaster site and
their promises, the role of the
federal and state government
in development control is
largely limited to passing
laws and formulating
policies. Development
control is the jurisdiction of
LocalCounsel
by Goh Ban Lee
the local authorities. They
are the approving authorities
of layout plans, building
plans and earthwork plans.
They issue the development
order.
In practice, the fate of
development projects is
decided by a committee.
Before April 2007, it was the
town planning and building
committee (TPBC) made
up of about 13 councillors
with the mayor or president
as chairman. The technical
officers, such as architects
and engineers, were
advisers.
Since April 2007, the
TPBC has been replaced by
the one stop centre (OSC)
committee. The mayor
or president is still the
chairman, but the number
of councillors is limited to
four. The dozen or so heads
of technical departments
from the council and other
government departments are
now committee members,
not advisers.
Although the OSC
has been established to
facilitate faster processing
of development project
applications, getting
approvals is still no walk in
the park. In fact, considering
the pitfalls on the road
to getting approval for
a project, it is a wonder
why anyone wants to be a
developer. But for those who
persevere, the profits can be
substantial.
In their quest for profits,
the developers have the
assistance of a plethora of
professional consultants.
The responsibilities of the
consultants in the Bukit
Antarabangsa tragedies have
not been fully discussed and
acknowledged.
Furthermore, where
there are obstacles, there
are problem-fixers. The
connivance of national
and state leaders and
councillors in the approval
of questionable development
projects has not been well
understood.
The main weakness
is that the development
control process is too
opaque. Despite the
millions of ringgit spent on
e-government, details of
development projects are not
up-loaded on the councils’
websites. Worse, the OSC
operates behind closed
doors. How or why projects
are approved or rejected
are not made known to the
public. The minutes of its
meeting are limited to the
final decisions.
In short, there is
neither transparency nor
accountability.
While the country waits
for the new laws and policies
and more study tours to
Hongkong or Switzerland,
there is an urgent need
to make the OSC, the
gatekeeper of development
projects, not only transparent
but also accountable.
For transparency, OSC
meetings must be opened
to the public, including the
press. For accountability,
the deliberations must be
recorded verbatim and
interference by federal or
state leaders must also be
recorded.
Equally important,
state or even federal ad
hoc committees must not
be allowed to interfere in
the processing of specific
projects.
There is no guarantee
that there will be no more
tragedies due to failures of
the built environment. But
a more transparent and
accountable development
control process will
help reduce chances of
questionable projects being
approved. Furthermore, it
makes the search for more
robust environmental and
safety laws meaningful.
Dr Goh Ban Lee is a retired
academic interested in urban
governance, housing and
urban planning. Comments:
feedback@thesundaily.com.

letter
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Top officials need longer contracts

I THINK there is something wrong in the way our
government is appointing people to head local
universities and local bodies such as City Hall.
Initially, it was the former UM vice-chancellor
who had her contract terminated after a two-year
term and now the mayor of KL has suffered the
same fate.
We cannot have people running our institu-
tions for brief periods as there is not enough time
for them to familiarise themselves with the work
cultures of the organisations concerned and im-
plement changes to improve the delivery systems
to be at par with first class cultures.
Mind you, these two individuals are not the
first to suffer such ignominy; to have their services
terminated after two-year periods but their pred-
ecessors also suffered the same fates as well.
People might think that those individuals who
had their contracts terminated after two years are
not up to the mark and thus their reputations and
integrity will suffer a major blow.
It seems that a change of ministers in charge of
such institutions will see a change of heads under
their ministries. Please give longer contracts to
people who are head hunted for top government
posts to enable them to leave lasting legacies
when they leave office.
Hamdan Ibrahim
Kuala Lumpur