III. EXISTING INSTITUTIONS AND MEASURES FOR INTEGRATING ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS INTO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING

[ III-A | III-B | III-C | III-D ]

B. Institutional arrangements for environmental management

[ B | B-1 | B-2 ]

1. Responsibilities of the Central Environmental Authority, local government and sectoral authorities

The Department of Environment-Federal Territory is the primary authority with regard to the environment in Malaysia. It is headed by a director-general who is appointed under Section 3 (1) of the Environmental Quality Act, 1974. Prior to 1995, the Department consisted of four divisions: Administration Division: Control Division; Development Division; and Prevention Division. It also included 10 other State offices located in Kedah, Pulau Pinang, Perak, Selangor, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah and Sarawak. In 1995, the departmental organizational structure, both at the head office and in the State offices, was changed and three new State offices were established in Negeri Sembilan, Kelantan and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. In addition, because of the rapid development on Langkawi Island, a branch office was established under the Kedah State office.

With effect from 1 July 1995, five divisions were introduced into the head office structure: an Administration and Finance Division; Information System Division; Control Division; Environmental Assessment Division; and Development Planning Division. (Department of Environment, 1995).

As indicated above, the Department of Environment was established in 1995 after a reorganization at the federal level. Thus, the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur has its own State-level agency to handle its environmental problems and regulations. Its main function is to monitor sources of pollution from two sources:

• Constant sources such as black smoke from vehicle emissions;

• Noise pollution from vehicular activities.

The Department monitors all major sources of pollution from factories under the Air Quality Act, 1978 (Industrial and Sewage Effluent); excluded are polluting premises that release less than 60 cubic metres. It works closely with the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur in its environmental monitoring and enforcement.

3.Local authority/government - City Hall responsibilities

The head of City Hall is the Lord Mayor. The King of Malaysia directly appoints the mayor, on the advice of the minister responsible, and is assisted by an advisory board. The mayor heads an organization comprising 20 divisions each headed by a director-general.

Pollution monitoring under the City Hall of Kuala Lumpur is very wide in scope; the Department of Environment monitoring is more specific but with certain limitations as indicated above.

With regard to enforcement, City Hall of Kuala Lumpur considers that enforcement concerning premises and factories should be turned over to the Department of Environment for greater emphasis. The Department of Environment also needs to increase its enforcement campaign and operation covering black smoke emissions from vehicles in Kuala Lumpur. Enforcement of specific noise pollution control should also be implemented fully by the Department.

City Hall of Kuala Lumpur has eight departments that deal with planning, impacts resulting from development, management or monitoring of environmental pollution and other directly or indirectly related aspects in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Those departments and their functions are detailed in table 1 (Ahmad Junid, 1996).

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