The people's safety and well-being should be given top priority when approving hillside development, president of the Malaysian Association of Social Impact Assessment (MSIA) Prof Dr Asmah Ahmad said today.

She said the deliberate cutting of hills in the name of development had jeopardised nature's calm and its eventual wrath would manifest in the form of rockfalls, landslides and other hazards.

She told Bernama that the demand among house buyers to own property with "vintage point" had encouraged hillside development.

bukit antarabangsa landslide victim unglu farid ungku abdul rahman interview 121208 03 However, due to lack of impact studies, these developments had turned disastrous, thus affecting the people's safety.

Asmah said the MSIA was very concerned with such development and had been lobbying to include social impact assessment studies in all prescribed activities and irrelevant development, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas, since its inception in 2005.

Besides, the social impact assessment also had an important role in plans, programmes and policies.

No independent legislation

She said that at present there was no independent legislation to enforce such a requirement, except an amendment in 2001 to the Town and Country Planning Act 1976 which required Development Proposal Reports to include the analysis of social implications thus involving social impact assessment as a tool.

She said social impact should be given greater emphasis as it involved the well-being and safety of those living within the development area.

Asmah said the association would be holding a forum on hillside development with local experts on Wednesday to discuss various social implications of hillside development.

Among the speakers were Selangor'Federal Territory Mineral and Geoscience Department director Zakaria Mohamad, Selangor Town and Country Planning Department director Jaafar Mohd Atan and Prof Sharifah Mastura Syed Abdullah of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Those interested to attend the forum can contact the association at secretariat@msia.org.my