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I.THE ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES AND TRENDS IN DEVELOPMENT
[ I-A | I-B | I-C | I-D | I-E| I-F]
F. Institutional arrangements for decision-making and development planning, including
central and local government and private organizations.
As the primary municipality and local authority in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, City Hall plays a central role in decision-making and development planning for the city.
The small industrial establishments tend to proliferate around established industries and in densely populated areas. To alleviate that problem, City Hall introduced a policy of relocating basic industries, and in particular the large and polluting industries, away from the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Instead, City Hall encourages the establishment of non-basic industries such as vehicle workshops, repair services and food manufacturing plants which serve the city.
To avoid the problems of incompatible land use, City Hall has found it necessary to redefine industries which were not previously classified; that is, old establishments that were encroached upon by residential developments and illegal industrial establishments. Classification will help City Hall to monitor and regulate the overall industrial development within the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. By grouping activities that are compatible with each other, City Hall planning will be made more effective. Under that process, unclassified industrial land will be rationalized with a view to relocating or upgrading industrial establishments. City Hall also regulates the expansion of industrial development in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. As an outcome of that policy, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur has relocated a number of sawmills to other districts. Today, sawmill pollution is no longer a major problem in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, City Hall ended quarrying operations in the Batu Caves area in 1980 with a resultant improvement in air quality around the Batu Caves from 1981 (City Hall of Kuala Lumpur, and MACEE, 1994).
Those developments in the integration of environmental considerations into local planning and policies have had a positive effect on air quality. However, air quality is also subject to factors outside the control of City Hall. Transboundary haze, for example, arises from land clearance, slash-and-burn cultivation and forest fires in neighbouring areas/countries such as Sumatra and Kalimantan. The El NiZo phenomenon is also considered to have contributed to the drought experienced in some regions, the result of which will be wider slash-and-burn activities in the following dry season.
However, the haze problem may actually be a blessing in disguise since the drastic decline in air quality has raised concern among the general public over the seriousness of pollution. During serious episodes of haze in Kuala Lumpur, for example, the public, the mass media, businesses and local volunteer bodies started collaborating in the efforts to mitigate the various related problems, including organizing volunteer monitoring units and reporting occurrences of slash-and-burn cultivation. Hopefully, that widening interest and attention in the environment will have a spill-over effect in encouraging further cooperation on other environmental problems such as river pollution and waste management.
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