Rehda Suggests Government Reconsider Plan To Amend Hill Slope
Bernama 13/10/2006 

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) has denounced as impractical and unjustified the government's plan to subject developments on hill slopes with a 15 degree gradient to soil and geological studies.

"Rehda fully supports efforts and measures to strike a balance between meeting the socio-economic needs of a rapidly growing urban population and preservation of environment.

"While we share the concerns over environmental protection and risks of hill-slope developments due to structural impact, erosion and possible collapse, we are of the view that the proposal to subject any development on slopes with a gradient of more than 15 degrees to soil and geological studies is not practical and onerous to the industry," i ts president Ng Seing Liong said in a statement Friday.

He argued that such slopes are low-risk development areas and subjecting developments on such areas to the ruling was not justified.

"Fifteen degrees is not a practical threshold," Ng said, calling on the government to reconsider the proposal to amend the current guidelines on hill-slope developments.

He said the proposed ruling would inevitably mean more bureaucratic processes and submissions that may not critically improve the risk management of hill-slope developments.

"What is required is strict compliance with existing guidelines and provisions by all parties involved, vigilant checking and monitoring by approving authorities and effective and timely enforcement against all defaulters," he added.

-- BERNAMA