ID :
16536
Thu, 08/21/2008 - 09:31
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Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/16536
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MORE CONTROL ON DEVELOPERS NEEDED IN NEW DEVELOPMENT AREAS, SAYS PM
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 (Bernama) -- Better approaches must be taken to overcome problems of conformance to conditions set upon developers by government agencies concerning land works in new development areas, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
"A programme on this must be implemented to tackle floods and pollution of rivers as a result of sedimentation. It will help save billions which are spent on flood mitigation, river maintenance, retention ponds, river rehabilitation, filtering water for domestic and industrial use and other related problems," he told reporters after chairing the fourth meeting of the National Water ResourcesCouncil at Parliament building here Wednesday.
He said the council that met Wednesday agreed for all state governments to gazette land bands owned by them on both sides of rivers in their territories depending on width to have a reserve of not less than five metres up to 50 metres in line with Paragraph 13 (1) (ii) of the National land Code1965.
Development on reserve land on riverbanks, said Abdullah, must be controlled properly to ensure the government did not incur costs to repair any infrastructure built on them and gazetting the five to 50 metres reserve wouldhelp the matter.
He said the council also agreed that the federal government, state governments and those of the federal territories identify whether new development projects implemented were at risk of floods by referring to theflood risk map provided by the Drainage and Irrigation Department.
"If the projects are in flood risk areas, steps must be taken to ensure therisks are mitigated and not increased," he said.
Abdullah added everything possible must also be done to ensure peopleliving in flood prone areas avoid losses because of floods.
He said the council also suggested that technical aspects of floodalleviation be stressed in view of the impact of climate change.
"A programme on this must be implemented to tackle floods and pollution of rivers as a result of sedimentation. It will help save billions which are spent on flood mitigation, river maintenance, retention ponds, river rehabilitation, filtering water for domestic and industrial use and other related problems," he told reporters after chairing the fourth meeting of the National Water ResourcesCouncil at Parliament building here Wednesday.
He said the council that met Wednesday agreed for all state governments to gazette land bands owned by them on both sides of rivers in their territories depending on width to have a reserve of not less than five metres up to 50 metres in line with Paragraph 13 (1) (ii) of the National land Code1965.
Development on reserve land on riverbanks, said Abdullah, must be controlled properly to ensure the government did not incur costs to repair any infrastructure built on them and gazetting the five to 50 metres reserve wouldhelp the matter.
He said the council also agreed that the federal government, state governments and those of the federal territories identify whether new development projects implemented were at risk of floods by referring to theflood risk map provided by the Drainage and Irrigation Department.
"If the projects are in flood risk areas, steps must be taken to ensure therisks are mitigated and not increased," he said.
Abdullah added everything possible must also be done to ensure peopleliving in flood prone areas avoid losses because of floods.
He said the council also suggested that technical aspects of floodalleviation be stressed in view of the impact of climate change.
