PUTRAJAYA, Oct 2 — The Department of Environment (DOE) has stressed that it adheres to the timeframe stipulated in the department’s client charter and quality management system (ISO) in approving the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports for development projects.
Its director-general Datuk Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaffar said the department is often labelled as a hindrance to development due to the EIA report requirement for new projects, adding that it has also been accused of taking a long time to approve the reports.
“We have made comparisons with other countries including developed nations…the United States took 120 days (to approve their EIA reports). We take a shorter time to approve,” he told the press today.
Abdul Latiff said the decision on a complete EIA report Schedule One issued within 25 days and 60 days for a complete Schedule Two report, adding that approvals rely on the efficiency of EIA consultants in completing the study that takes six months to a year to complete, as it is technical and scientific.
“We (DOE) have ISO standards and a client charter. Checks found that these EIA consultants are telling developers that the DOE takes a long time (to approve EIA reports), when in fact, it is their studies that are not completed,” he said.
There are 600 EIA consultants registered with the department, and some consultants have been blacklisted for falsifying reports.
Meanwhile, DOE’s EIA Assessment Division director Rohimah Ayub said they had received EIA reports that did not follow the stipulated format and lacked verification from registered consultants.
“When reviewed, we found that the consultants were not involved in the study, but their names were used….we could not review such reports and have to send them back,” she said.
The EIA is a study that identifies, predicts, evaluates, and gathers information from the relevant parties to prevent environmental issues caused by development activities and to avoid costly mistakes.
— Bernama
