III. EXISTING INSTITUTIONS AND MEASURES FOR INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING
[ III-A | III-B | III-C | III-D ]
A. Planning aspects
[ A-1 | A-2 | A-3 | A-4| A-5 ]
3. Tools used for integrating environmental concerns and development
In Malaysia, the concept of environmental impact assessment (EIA) as a management and planning tool was first mentioned in the Third Malaysia Development Plan (1976-1980), promoted in the Fourth Malaysia Development Plan (1981-1985) and institutionalized in the Fifth Malaysia Development Plan (1986-1990) when the 1985 Environmental Quality (Amendment) Act was brought into effect through the Environmental Quality Act (Prescribed Activities) (EIA) Order in April 1987. The Environmental Quality Act, 1974, is a federal law. Under the 1987 Environmental Quality Order, 19 prescribed activities are mandated to provide EIA reports that include areas such as: agricultural land development; woodland and virgin forest development; hill land conversion; logging; mangrove swamps; industrial estate development; construction of new townships; mining and quarrying; resort development; dam and reservoir construction etc. (Department of Environment, 1994).
However, a loophole exists in the case of Malaysian EIA requirements for development activities: an EIA is apparently not required for most areas of less than 40 hectares (Department of Environment, 1994). Most of the land areas available for development in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur are basically very small; thus, by default, almost all development and construction being undertaken in the city are not required to prepare an EIA, except for highways and the proposed "linear city" to be built on top of the Klang River.
There does not appear to be a requirement for any risk assessment or environmental risk management in activities other than petrochemical and fertilizer plants which are covered by a special order of the Department of Environment. That order is unlikely to be pertinent to current activities in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
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