THE WHOLE NINE YARDS
by Lim Lay Ying
Property Times, New Straits Times
12th March 2005

Seven housing developers with projects in Section U10, Shah Alam, will be taken to task by the Shah Alam City council for flouting the law. They were alleged to have commenced with the earthworks before getting the official green light to proceed. Another two which disregarded approved specifications in drainage and retention ponds’ provision, will also be hauled up as part of the Selangor state government’s actions to prevent further damage to the Bukit Cahaya Seri Alam Agricultural Park.

Thanks to a local daily which alerted everyone’s attention to the spree of development activities in areas surrounding the park, the seriousness of the issue jolted the powers that be to revisit existing policies on environmental control in addition to hitting the brakes on unauthorized development activities.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports which were previously mandatory only for development projects measuring 50 hectares (125 acres)and above, now apply to smaller ones of 20 hectares (50 acres) and up. In addition, trees which are of six inches or more in diameter, are not to be chopped down, following orders from the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself.

A one-two punch

The damage so far on the environment at and around the park area has hit the state with a one-two punch. First, there were flash floods and mudslides, then the rivulets and streams started disappearing, and a series of erosion began. Now, it is the hefty bills, the derailment of development progress, and the legal commitments to housebuyers that the affected developers will have to contend with.

According to the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the estimate for the damage so far to the agriculture park amounts to RM4.2 million. The state government has since 1992 spent RM150 million to maintain the park. Along the way, some 412 hectares (1,030 acres) of the park had to make way for development. The park, planned as the National Botanical Garden and targetted to be the world’s largest agro-forestry park by 2007, now covers 846 hectares (2,115 acres) compared to the originally-planned 1,258 hectares (3,145 acres).

Restoring the park to its natural state would be an uphill task, in particular when some of its lifeforms (both plant and animals) have been destroyed. Climatic conditions would have been altered due to the thinning of the forest canopies when the forest areas were encroached into.

While damage-control measures have at least been initiated, environmental preservation however should now be at the forefront of all those associated with the real estate development industry. It involves the whole nine yards in project design and implementation, and has to start with environmentally-responsible green land planning.

Full spectrum of site issues

This includes the full spectrum of site issues relating to minimising energy use and conserving water, besides ensuring the protection and preservation of what remains of the plant, animal, and insect life. Of particular importance, the development plans must ensure that development activities and ultimately the built environment will not harm nearby open space, water bodies, or wildlife habitat. These natural assets can in fact help to add value to the projects such as the creation of scenic buffers and recreation amenity for the residents.

Tan & Tan Development Bhd invested time and energy when planning the site layouts for Sierramas and Sierramas West in the Sungei Buloh suburb in Selangor. On the outset, topography issues related to grading were carefully studied, and became the responsibility of not just the physical planner but also the architect, the engineer, the land surveyor, the landscape architect, and etc. With an environmentally-responsible developer at the helm, the team of consultants aimed (and successful achieved) at maintaining the natural land forms by aligning roadways, locating building sites according to the topographical contours of the land, and preserved natural streams as gulleys which are now part of the landscape features.

At the same time, the team focused as much on how much was to be built as they did on what would be built. The development plan for example, minimized the amount of on-site infrastructure such as roads and utilities, and limited areas of impermeable paving to reduce peak stormwater runoff flows. To help stabilize slopes and reduce sediment runoff and erosion, landscaping with deep-rooted plants was adopted and this further helped to beautify the project.

Developer Yee Seng Heights Sdn Bhd worked around matured trees and preserved hillslopes during the construction of its 120-acre Bukit Gita Bayu project located in Seri Kembangan in the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Where there were slopes and hillside development, the development used “pier on grade” foundations (where the uphill side of a building is on grade and the downhill side is supported by piers), split-level architecture, and retaining walls. Reconfiguration of the natural contours were avoided as much as possible.

Breaking away from convention

When market research repeatedly confirmed that homebuyers want access to and views of open space that are permanently protected, YTL Land & Development Bhd moved in swiftly and created Lake Edge in the middle-class Puchong suburb. It preserved the 9-acre lake and kept the density to only 6.7 homes per acre. Lake Edge gave the buyers what they wanted – a property within a preserved environment that has the natural amenities of adjacent open space. (See pictures).

Anecdotal evidence has revealed that residential units in Lake Edge positioned adjacent to the open space and the natural water feature i.e. the lake, commanded higher sale prices and sold faster than comparable properties not associated with these attributes. Since the project’s maiden launch in early 2004 when the 24 feet by 85 feet double-storey courtyard homes were tagged from RM380,000, new linked home products with 22 feet by 100 feet plots were recently sold by the developer at between RM555,000 and RM675,000.

Preserving the environment is a challenge associated with development which requires a great deal of innovation on the part of the developer and its development team. They would have to break away from conventional designs and put in more thought to try and make the homes fit the land instead of altering the land to fit the greatest number of homes. At times, densities may have to be sacrificed but they might even make more money with the creation of more attractive products, such as YTL Land & Development’s experience with Lake Edge.

Local authorities should thus focus on protecting the quality of the natural environment and ensuring the continued health of forested areas. Bringing development companies to court on counts of non-compliance isn’t going to achieve this.