The Government is targeting two hectares of land for every 1,000 people in the country to enable the rakyat to live more comfortably.
Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said there was currently 1.19ha for every 1,000 people.
“This is fine, but we intend to increase the space so there is enough breathing room for everybody,” he told reporters at the second National Physical Plan and World Town Planning Day 2010 conference here yesterday.
“Efforts to achieve the target should start with state governments which can gazette more land as open spaces,” Chor said.
He added that 70% of the country’s population was projected to be living in cities by 2020.
Chor also urged housing developers to incorporate environment-friendly concepts when developing new areas by constructing green buildings, using renewable energy and planting greenery between neighbourhoods.
On the second National Physical Plan, he said the policies in the plan included promoting urban regeneration, restoration and creating mixed development whereby places of work, leisure and homes are in the same location.
“The plan’s focus is in line with the 10th Malaysia Plan’s main initiative to minimise negative effects on the ecology,” he said.
He added that the Town and Country Planning department was currently preparing a guideline on planning green neighbourhoods.
On Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ordering the formation of a special committee to channel aid to flood victims, Chor said he would chair the panel together with Kedah deputy Umno chairman Datuk Paduka Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah and Deputy Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom.
“We will first compile a list of all the flood victims,” he said.
