Housing developers unfazed

Housing developers unfazed
12/ 6/2005 Sunday Times Lydia Gomez and Irdiani Mohd Salleh

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat:

Housing developers are not perturbed by the Government’s move to issue stop-work orders to developers who destroy green lungs or mangrove swamps. This is because local authorities issue such orders under their by-laws.

Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) president Datuk Jeffrey Ng said the only difference would be that the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry would also be doing so now.

"We do not welcome more penalties as a stop-work order is severe punishment for a developer.

"But in this case, giving the power to enforce the same penalty to a ministry makes no difference to us," he said.

He was commenting on a New Straits Times report today that the ministry would issue stop-work orders to developers who fail to comply with the conditions of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

He said the association’s executive council would meet to discuss the move as soon as it was officially notified by the ministry.

He said he came to know of the move from newspaper reports.

He added that contractors and consultants should also be penalised for failing to comply with EIA conditions.

On the cost to developers issued with stop-work orders, he said it could be very high, depending on the area being worked on and the period of delay.

"It would be much cheaper for developers if they could comply with all the regulations.

"The moment there are breaches, it would take long to rectify them and this would be costly," he said.

Ng said developers should be more aware of their responsibility to preserve the environment as the Government was serious about punishing errant developers.

Meanwhile, MK Land marketing and sales manager Rustam Hamidon said the order was long overdue.

He said the ministry should monitor developers to ensure they adhered to EIA conditions.

Contractor K.P. Khoo said the ruling could prolong the duration and increase the cost of operations.

This could mean increased overhead costs, he added