I.THE ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES AND TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT
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D.Policy for development with future perspectives
The rapid development of the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur over the past two decades has occurred in an unconstrained and haphazard manner. City Hall has therefore taken steps to introduce more planned development. In 1984, City Hall adopted the central strategy of KLSP which now stands as its principal planning policy (City Hall of Kuala Lumpur, 1994). KLSP, which is published by the City Hall Master Planning Department, is revised every 20 years. The first KLSP, published in August 1984, projected the planned development of the capital for the next two decades. City Hall is currently preparing a revised plan that will cover the period up to the year 2020, incorporating the Vision 2020 strategy introduced by the Prime Minister for a fully-fledged Malaysian nation.
Under KLSP, various selected development strategies have been formulated and tested before selecting major concepts. Those strategies have attempted to imagine future implications if current developmental growth continues and development implication through centralized and distribution level. Several concepts have been integrated in seeking a balance between the rapid development and population growth in the city. For example, City Hall of Kuala Lumpur has adopted various concepts in current and future planning such as: running Kuala Lumpur as a central capital city, with residential areas distributed around the city; industrial reorganization; open hierarchical and various types of zones; an efficient transportation system; and a complete pedestrian movement system and network (Kuala Lumpur Structure Plan, 1984).
City Hall policies include the development of satellite cities or decentralization. To mitigate the high population growth rate and the infrastructural limitations (e.g., traffic jams), City Hall has adopted a strategy of redistributing residential and commercial areas away from the city centre through the development of satellite cities. The development of the satellite cities is based on employment sectors such as industry, public services and commerce. Therefore the local authorities will ensure that infrastructure and floor space is available outside the central city planning area for commerce, shopping and services in order to support the needs of residents and to generate employment opportunities.
Future development issues that remain to be tackled on a priority basis by City Hall include non-classified industries which fall into three categories:
- Development of old industries encroached on by existing housing development
- Development of illegal industries such as: (a) home-based industries; (b) shophouse industries; and (c) industries operating on government or private land without permission from the local authority
- Control of industrial activities that pollute the surrounding environment.
Classifications for the various industries need to be formulated in order to provide efficient planning in separating or isolating non-complementary industries (Department of Environment, 1994).
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