Although laws and guidelines have been put in place since the Highland Towers tragedy to determine development projects on any given slope, more needs to be done to prevent recurrences.
Eriko Motoyama, programme director of SlopeWatch, an NGO based in Bukit Antarabangsa that promotes slope safety, said guidelines were merely to ensure that minimum requirements were met.
“Quoting a guideline and designing it in accordance with it does not make a slope safe. Considerable amount of engineering judgement also has to be applied as no two slopes are the same.
“Private owners of lands with engineered slopes should not be lax just because they had the job done properly. They should consider special engineering maintenance as well,” Motoyama said.
The guidelines introduced after the collapse of Highland Towers act as rules for states, planners and other decision-makers to determine development projects on any given slope.
The national “Guidelines for Hillside and Highland Areas Development Planning” comes under the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry and is synchronised with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry’s rules but there are some differences among the states.
Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) Hillslope Development and Maintenance Division head and engineer Zafrul Fazry Mohd Fauzi said under the Selangor guidelines, development on slopes termed Class III and IV must be referred to a special state committee which comprises representatives of the state Drainage and Irrigation Department, Kumpulan Ikram Sdn Bhd, local authorities and Land Office.
Class I is defined as slopes less than 15 degrees; Class II — slopes 16 to 25 degrees, Class III — slopes 26 to 35 degrees and Class IV — slopes more than 35 degrees.
The four slopes are divided into four levels of height — low land (below 150m); hill land (150-300m), highland (300-1,000m) and mountain (more than 1,000m).
