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IV. ASSESSING INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL MEASURES INTO DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
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C. Development planning framework
The development planning framework is three-tiered, comprising the federal, State and local governments. The federal government influences planning and the implementation of the development projects through annual development budget allocations and the five-year development plan. Development is essentially land based. As land is a State matter, it is at the State level that implementation is carried out. The Town and Country Planning Act, 1976, specifies that the local government is the local planning authority for the area. Urban problems associated with development such as transportation, flash flooding, erosion and siltation, and lack of housing and public facilities need to be tackled at the planning authority level.
The process of policy development is an amalgam of the top-down and bottom-up approaches. The Cabinet makes related decisions based on policy advice by the agencies that then implement those decisions. There is some participation by interest groups or NGOs, usually on invitation from the relevant agency or ministry, in the various levels of the policy formulation and implementation process. Such participation would, for example, be during the drafting process and as members of the policy steering committee.
In some cases, planning is carried out under "closed door" conditions and as the exclusive preserve of government agencies. Those cases include the preparation of the five-year plan, mid-term reviews, departmental policies and policies at the State and local government levels. Such closed-system decision-making by State and local governments has led to disparities between federal and State policies on development and environmental matters. A case in point is the approval by States of timber concessions far in excess of the amount allocated to them by the National Finance Council. Although that does not mean that State development planning is without consultative mechanisms, such mechanisms are open only to government agencies (Mohd Nizam, 1997).
Although the policy planning process appears simple and straightforward, in practice in takes years for some policies to receive approval. For example, the National Policy on the Environment was drafted in 1993. Although it is mentioned in the Seventh Malaysia Plan, it is still awaiting Cabinet approval.
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