SAHABAT Alam Malaysia (SAM) has urged Putrajaya to make public the social impact assessments (SIA), traffic impact assessments (TIA) and radiological impact assessments (RIA) of development projects for public feedback.
Its president Meenakshi Raman said currently none of these impact assessments are made public or require public feedback.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia is a Malaysian civil society group established in 1977 to fight for causes related to the Malaysian environment. SAM also publishes books and news magazines.
"An SIA and TIA are required for relevant development projects under the Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 (TCPA), while an RIA is needed under the Atomic Energy Licensing Act 1984 in dealing with radioactive waste, prior to the grant of a license for keeping such waste.
"Although the SIA process does involve some consultations with those likely to be affected by the project, how these concerns have been taken into account and addressed in the impact assessment is not known or made transparent.
"We believe that these impact assessments must follow the procedures that exist in relation to environmental impact assessments (EIA) under the Environmental Quality Act 1974, where public participation and feedback are required for major projects with serious impacts, prior to any EIA approval," Meenakshi said.
Citing the Light Rail Transit project in Penang, Meenakshi said the SIA or the TIA were not made public and concerned citizens were not able to view the findings and conclusions of these assessments.
"Having impact assessments done and not making them public for feedback beforehand is not good governance and does not augur well for transparency in decision-making."
She added with such a practice how can authorities expect the public to have confidence when such assessments are not subject to independent scrutiny?
"The same is the case in the current on-going controversy over the Kampung Bohol flood retention pond in the Federal Territory.
"The SIA and TIA for the proposed housing project in the area should be made public so that there is independent scrutiny as to the adverse impact on the communities nearby," Meenakshi said.
Last week, Penang Forum, an umbrella body of civil society groups said it was not too late for Penang to backtrack from its proposed RM10.5 billion light rail transit (LRT) system and opt for a cheaper yet efficient rail system.
Retired technocrats - Lim Thean Heng, who was a public transport engineer and economist Lim Mah Hui - told a press conference that the present model is too expensive and the operator can end up bankrupt if federal subsidies are revoked.
The LRT has altogether 22 boarding stations on its 28km long rail with the state administrative centre, Komtar in George Town, regarded as the main one.
The link begins from Penang Sentral in Butterworth before it crosses the channel through a rail link and connects all the way to the proposed Silicon Island with one line extending to the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas. – May 22, 2024.
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