Housing developers unfazed
Sunday Times 12/6/2005 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
