FEBRUARY 21 — The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) in a statement on Wednesday (Feb 19) said that KPKT has developed a draft of the Urban Renewal Bill through the Department of Town and Country Planning (PLANMalaysia).
“This Bill is under review for approval by the Attorney General’s Department. Once it receives the green light, it will be presented at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for March, followed by the National Council for Local Government Meeting in May.
“The Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament in July this year,” the statement said, adding that the proposed legislation emphasises key principles to ensure no party is disadvantaged during the urban renewal.”
Accordingly, there is no Urban Renewal Bill yet, let alone an Urban Renewal Act.
The word Act refers to law or legislation passed by Parliament. Before it is law, an Act is proposed as a Bill.
A Bill (a proposed law) must be presented and read three times in Parliament before it is passed into an Act of Parliament.
There is currently no law to govern urban renewal and redevelopment. There is only a proposal to present a Bill on urban renewal and redevelopment which is expected to be tabled in July.
It seems that the main bone of contention with the proposal for a law on urban renewal and redevelopment is that it would lower the consent threshold required for the en-bloc sale of strata title properties from the current unanimous (100 per cent) resolution, required under Section 57 of the Strata Titles Act 1985 (Act 318), for development to 80 per cent for buildings under 30 years old, 75 per cent for buildings over 30 years old, and 51 per cent for abandoned developments or buildings.
The threshold would be on par with regional peers like Singapore, which has an 80 per cent threshold for buildings over 10 years old, Western Australia, which has a 90 per cent threshold for buildings that are less than 30 years old, and New Zealand, which requires a 75 per cent threshold.
(See Nischal Ranjinath Muniandy, “To Build Or Not To Build? The Role Of The Urban Renewal Act (sic) In Rejuvenating Our Cities”)
Let’s just wait for the Bill on urban renewal and redevelopment. In the meantime, let there be further engagements with the public and the stakeholders, especially the MPs with whom the KPKT had had a special briefing session at the Parliament Building on Tuesday (Feb18).
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.