By Alang Bendahara
SHAH ALAM, July 8 — The Selangor government wants more housing developers to use green building technology when developing new residences in the state in an effort to promote sustainable growth.
State executive councillor for housing and urban wellbeing Rodziah Ismail said aside from the installation of solar panels and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting, the state is also looking at rainwater harvesting.
“Whenever new homes are delivered, I will ask the developers, where are the solar panels and why is it not installed? Even if it is installed I will ask for more by suggesting that the rooftop of covered car parks are also installed with solar panels.
“(Since) in Selangor we receive a lot of rain, I will look into making a proposal to harvest rainwater at strata buildings in the state,” she said as a panellist at the sustainability forum session that was held at the First Selangor Plan Pre-Launch Symposium at the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) Convention Centre, here yesterday.
Rodziah said the state will improve its housing policy to support sustainable growth and she had urged state authorities to be stricter in enforcing it on housing developers.
She added that the state continues to draw attractive investments in sustainable development, especially in green technology.
“Recently, the state received an RM400 million investment for the installation of solar panels on the roof of strata buildings with lifts to reduce energy consumption.
“We also get an RM120 million to change LED lighting at the buildings,” she said.
On February 8, Rodziah had said that 1,000 high-rise buildings in the state will have solar panels and LED lighting installed under the Selangor Properties and Strata Intelligent System (SISP) in an effort to use less energy
She said the project would start with strata buildings before moving on to include commercial buildings, shophouses, hospitals and other facilities.
Meanwhile, Rodziah said during the symposium that the state is also mulling placing a moratorium on future property development in the state.
“Statistics from the National Property Information Centre (Napic) shows there are a lot of overhang property units (in the state).
“We might need to pause for a while to review all the projects, say no to some, and use the time to correct certain things,” she said.
Other panellists during the forum were state executive councillor for environment, climate change and green technology Hee Loy Sian, state executive councillor for local government and public transportation Ng Sze Han, Worldwide Holdings Bhd chief executive officer Datin Norazlina Zakaria and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Environmental and Development (Sustainability) Institute lecturer Profesor Dr Joy Jacqueline Pereira.
Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shair had yesterday launched the symposium of the RS-1, which will be tabled at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly on July 25.
