PUTRAJAYA, March 20 — It is compulsory for all development projects after Jan 16, this year to prepare and submit the Social Impact Assessment (SIA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports as a condition for approval of the projects.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, Tan Sri Noh Omar said previously, the developers only needed to prepare the EIA report where the SIA aspect was part of the report.

Realising that social issues arose from development, he said the SIA report was important to ensure that the social aspect was taken into account in planning and development carried out by the government and private sector.

Noh said that under the Town and Country Planning (Amendment) Act 2017 (Act  A1522) gazetted on Jan 16 this year, developers needed to appoint two consultants to prepare the SIA report (for the Malaysia Town Planning Board) and  and EIA report (for the Department of Environment).

"The Malaysia Town Planning Board has so far received one SIA report,” he told reporters after the ministry’s monthly assembly, here, today.

At the assembly, Noh also also launched the rebranding of the Town and Country Planning Department to PLANMalaysia with the new tagline, ‘Planning: Beyond Conventional’.

He said the rebranding was decided at a Cabinet meeting on Jan 25, and it was made as 70 per cent of the residential areas in this country were categorised as urban areas, as such, the planning should be all-encompassing.

Later, at a press conference, Noh said all new People’s Housing Projects (PPR) and low-cost flats would be equipped with stretcher lifts.

"I received complaints that residents who died had to be taken standing up down the lifts. Therefore, there is a need for stretcher lifts. We will ask the local authorities to make it compulsory for the PPRs and low-cost flats to be equipped with stretcher lifts,” he said. — Bernama