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Human Factor
27/04/2005  e.sinchew-i.com

The climate in Klang Valley is getting increasingly unpredictable, with bright sunny weather in the morning giving way suddenly to a powerful gust and heavy downpour.

Klang Valley is already "physically debilitated". Any heavy rain will only aggravate the situation further. A recent storm has resulted in severe floods, landslides and cave-ins in some parts of Klang Valley.

Strong gusts and heavy rains are natural phenomena, and to point the finger at natural phenomena is but a most common way of evading one's responsibilities. As a matter of fact, human factor should be the prime suspect, and Klang Valley's vulnerability is but the result of uncurbed developments.

Developers have provided us with a wide variety of residential choices, with one after another housing projects. However, if a developer cares only for his own interests, and fails to evaluate the potential impacts his project may have on the environment, soil and the drainage system, the project's weaknesses will be fully exposed whenever a storm strikes, no matter how cosy it is claimed to be.

Even if a developer has submitted the environment assessment reports and listed the steps to be taken for any possible situation, prior to carrying out a project, due to technical and financial constraints, these proposals are often reduced to nothing more than empty talks.

If developers discharge their social obligations to build good quality homes instead of waxing lyrical of their projects through A&P means, I believe inconveniences such as flash floods, landslides and other lethal tragedies arising from indiscreet developments could have been prevented.

While there are responsible developers who promptly make amends after a landslide has occured, we can't deny that there are also black sheep in their midst. Consequently, the responsibility of monitoring these people rests in the hands of various departments and units involved in the projects.

Having said that, inadequacies in our public management system, administration and enforcement, coupled with a lack of coordination among the various departments, are the root causes of all problems.

Take the environment assessment report for example, inconsistency in project approval has been all the more evident among the various approving authorities. A project must be first submitted to the local authorities for approval; the land authority would approve the project on technical considerations, while the environment authority is responsible for the environmental impacts the project may have. However, environment assessment report is often submitted after a project has been carried out, or perhaps omitted right away, as the project has already been approved by the land authority.

Moreover, after the approval by the environment authority, even if the construction is monitored as required, the lack of coordination among the various departments, as well as the conflicts and overlapping in the areas of jurisdiction between the central government and the environment authority, have made enforcement even harder to carry out.

During the process of scrutinising the project and supervision of the construction works, we cannot rule out the possibility of irresponsible manipulation of government officials by some developers in the wake of profits. Some of the developers have political backing, allowing them to exploit lands indiscreetly and making enforcement of laws a whole lot more difficult.

Natural disasters can strike anytime and we are in no position at all to prevent them. However, human factors can be checked.

The repeated occurrence of floods and landslides after a heavy downpour has highlighted the fact that we have flopped in both our supervisory as well as preventive works. It is now time for us to learn from our mistakes.


Sin Chew Daily
 
 

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