KOTA KINABALU: The State Legislative Assembly yesterday passed the Bill to amend the Town and Country Planning Ordinance which will expedite the approval process for development projects by transferring the power to the local authority (PBT).
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ahmad Abdul Rahman approved the Bill after it was tabled by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Jaujan Sambakong at the State Legislative Assembly sitting.
“The Town and Country Planning Board will be replaced by a new entity dubbed as the State Planning Council (SPC) which will be chaired by the minister who is responsible for the state’s town and country planning,” said Jaujan in his speech at the August House yesterday.
He added that the role the SPC is to draft planning policies for the physical development of Sabah.
Jaujan said the PBT would now function as the local planning authority (PBPT) whereby it would have the powers to process and approve development plans for implementation in accordance with the rules set by the government.
He explained that the amendment would improve all weaknesses in the land development for Sabah and thus it helps boost the state to be more effective and dynamic in line with the direction of the State Government.
Later in a press conference, Jaujan explained that the devolution of powers would be divided into six zones, namely South West Coast, North West Coast, the Interior Region, the Northern Region, Sandakan and Tawau.
“We can approve the development plan within 24 hours as long as every requirement has been fulfilled. After that, the applications will be brought to the secretariat for the final approval,” he said.
Jaujan emphasised that all the requirements must first be fulfilled such as the reports from the Land Department and the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
The amendment will come into force on December 12.
The State Legislative Assembly also passed the Bill to amend the Sabah Ports Authority Enactment 1981 to increase the number of members of its board of directors from five to seven.
Ahmad approved the Bill after it was tabled by Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony at the State Legislative Assembly sitting yesterday.
“This amendment has to be made in order to strengthen the organizational structure of the Sabah Ports Authority and for it to be managed more efficiently and effectively,” said Peter in his speech at the August House.
He said that the addition of two more directors would be an advantage for the Sabah Ports Authority.
“This will help the Sabah Ports Authority’s board of directors develop the state’s port industry in a more effective manner in the future,” he said.
“The amendment also seeks to raise the number of membership in sub-paragraph (c)(i) from three members to five members, following the prior increase in the members of the Authority,” he added.