Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) will enforce tighter regulations to ensure developers build pedestrian walkways in their respective development sites to ease the burden visually-impaired people.

MBPJ deputy mayor Puasa Md Taib said this was to ensure that developers complied with the construction conditions of approval issued by MBPJ which include providing a tactile path for the blind so that all pedestrian walkways in the city a user-friendly, especially for the disabled, in five years time.

"The Committee has decided that the based-on-approval enforcement should be strict to ensure all developers comply with the term of approval for planning.

"Since 2011, all developers are required to comply with such conditions and most of them are building the tactile path," he told reporters at the Blind Leading The Blind, 10th Charity Walk and cheque presentation for RM75,000 to the Tun Hussien Onn National Eye Hospital community service in Petaling Jaya.

Organised by the Lions Club of Petaling Jaya, the annual charity walk is aimed to build awareness amongst the Malaysian public on the importance of appreciating the gift of sight and let them experience the hardship that the visually impaired have to live through, everyday.

The walk will take place on June 16, at the MBPJ Civic Hall with participants having to walk about three kilometres, blindfolded.

Lions Club Chairman Mak Siew Fong said since the first time the event was held 10 years ago, the annual walk had raised RM725,000.

"This fund has also allowed us to provide a free of charge eye test to 15,000 people as well as a free cataract surgery to 1,500 poor people," he said.

- Bernama