Foziah Johar

GIS and Development Control System for a Local Authority in Malaysia

The process of development control involves a technique for the systematic compilation of expert quantitative analysis and qualitative assessment of project land use and property development viability, including its effect on the surrounding area, and the presentation of results in a way that enables the importance of the predicted results, and the scope of modifying or mitigating them to be properly evaluated by the relevant decision making body before a planning permission is rendered. Taking the local authorities in Malaysia as an example, this paper will discuss and demonstrate the development of a GIS database and its integration and application for development and building control. The first part of the paper examines the functions of local authorities particularly in the context of development control. In this study, the procedure involved in granting a planning permission as well as enforcement becomes the main focus because it determines the bulk of the system design. The study identifies seven sub-systems namely planning permission, building control, planning enforcement, geospatial database, information kiosk, document processing and presentation sub-systems. The system is developed using a combination of office automation, CAD, GIS, multimedia and other software packages. This paper will focus on the development of the GIS for the purpose of development control. The components of the GIS database include land information, buildings, existing developments, planning information, development plans, utilities, community facilities, transportation, environment and the socio-economy database. The GIS database will be used at every stage of development control, for example, in initial discussions, registration, invitation of objections, the development control process, the consideration by Technical Committee and the consideration by Planning Committee. It is anticipated that the GIS database could be used by many parties involved in the process as a reference point in evaluating a planning submission. Having access to the database will provide flexibility in assessing a proposed development and deciding on the overall urban growth management programme in the most cost-effective manner. The system will also provide transparency and consistency in the development control procedure.

The role of afforestation programme in combating desertification in Nigeria

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which an afforestation programme as spelt out in the Forestry II programme has checked the encroachment of desert in the arid and semi‐arid zone of northern Nigeria.Design/methodology/approach – The study is carried out in the afforestation project states aimed at evaluating the success/failure of the program. Field observation and a site visit are conducted on some communities as well as policies relevant to forestry sector are reviewed.Findings – The preliminary findings of this paper indicate that the afforestation projects had a positive impact on both biophysical and socioeconomic environment and contributed to the sustainability of the afforestation programme.Research limitations/implications – This paper is primarily focused on the various components of the Forestry II programme and the extent they have helped in combating desertification.Originality/value – The paper addresses the need for sustainable afforestation projects and disc...

Drought and desertification management in arid and semi-arid zones of Northern Nigeria

Purpose – This paper seeks to review the state of desertification in Nigeria, historical trends and past national efforts as well as ongoing programs for combating the fast-spreading desert conditions in the arid zones of the country. Design/methodology/approach – The approach has been carried out through a comprehensive review analysis and detailed assessment on several methods of approach which includes archival materials as well as published government documents, field observation and learned background information of the working and funding dynamics of the program to combat desertification. Findings – The findings of this paper reveal that the failure of the past government effort in combating desertification in Nigeria is a result of the policies and the programs not having been designed to adequately tackle the problem of drought and desertification and of the phenomena being treated as sectoral issues rather than an integrated whole. Practical implications – This paper has practical implication for...

Critical success factors of public–private partnership projects: a comparative analysis of the housing sector between Malaysia and Nigeria

ABSTRACT Although public–private partnership (PPP) strategy has gained popularity as an alternative strategy in the delivery of public works projects, its application has come with mixed results. Numerous studies have attributed the success of PPP projects to contextual peculiarities of different administrative settings. This comparative study uses case study approach to analyse the similarities and differences of the critical factors that influence the success of PPP housing projects in Malaysia and Nigeria. The study reveals that while ‘equitable risk allocation’, ‘stable political system’, and ‘reputable developer’ are the most critical critical success factors (CSFs) in the case of Nigeria, ‘action against errant developer’, ‘consistent monitoring’, and ‘house buyers demand’ are the most critical factors that influenced the success the PPP housing project in Malaysia. The findings widen the understanding of the contextual issues that dictates the relative importance of CSFs of PPP in developing countries.

An overview of critical success factors of publicprivate partnership in the delivery of urban infrastructure and services

The inability of the public sector to independently meet the increasing demand for infrastructure and services has prompted many governments to adopt Public-private partnership (PPP) as an alternative strategy. In worldwide practices, however, there are mixed results and controversy in the application of PPP model. The Public-private partnership has, for this reason, become an increasingly active research area mainly to establish the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) towards improving the PPP model. This article reviews the current debate on the subject of PPP and compares the findings of different literature regarding the relative importance of CSFs of PPP projects. The authors argue that the CSFs of PPP projects are distinctive to the context of location and time. The article concludes that this subjectivity has implications for the “guaranteed” success of both existing and future PPP projects. Keyword: Public-Private Partnership, Critical Success Factors, Infrastructure and

Assessing the impact of forestry II program on agricultural productivity in the arid zone of Nigeria: A case of Kano and Jigawa state

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the sustainability of a forestry management strategy in checkmating desert encroachment and it also examines the impacts of the Forestry II program on agricultural productivity in the rural communities. Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a quantitative approach in assessing the rural farmers’ level of participation in the Forestry II program in which 201 respondents were interviewed in the study area. Structured questionnaires’ were also administered to afforestation officials/extension workers in the two states regarding the different components of the projects and probable cause(s) of failures/successes as well as the level of involvement of the community in the project. Field observations of the project sites were also carried out with a view to examining the level of achievements on the physical components of the projects. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that, involvement of the stakeholders and participation of the community...

Travel emission profile of Iskandar Malaysia neighbourhoods from pre-1980s to 2000s

Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT), an indicator of travel levels on the roadway system mainly by private vehicles, has been widely used in urban planning to help indicate CO2 emission due to changes in built environment. Bordering Singapore to the south, neighbourhood development has been constantly happening in Johor Bahru since 1980s. These neighbourhood developments are believed to have undergone a continuous layout design evolution affecting its land use distribution, road network design, and density. Thus, this paper investigates the quiet influence of neighbourhood design, as it evolves over the decades on VMT and eventually travel carbon emission. Twenty two residential neighbourhoods representing several decades from pre-1980s to the 2010s were selected and travel diaries of their randomly selected households were recorded. Findings from this study reveal that travel carbon emission for pre-1980s residential areas is only 8.7 kilograms/household/day with a daily travel range of 40 km/day. However, the amount increases up to 21.8 kilograms/household/day for 2010s houses with daily travel range of 100 km/day. Car usage among residents in Iskandar Malaysia is undoubtly increasing as car ownership proportion increases from 0.8 in pre-1980s to 2.37 in 2010s. Number and distance of vehicles trip can be reduced by organizing activities in compact communities rather than in auto dependent suburbs. In addition, a carbon emission reduction of up to 10 percent may result from a change in land use approach alone while additional reductions will result from employing other strategies such as transit investment, fuel pricing, and parking charges.

Environmental Concerns in Local Planning Practice

The town and country planning system has been identified to be one of the key instruments in delivering land use and development objectives that are compatible with the aims of sustainable development. Several areas of actions should therefore be considered in the local planning strategy to achieve a more radical approach to environmental sustainability. These include conservation, shaping the locational pattern of development and accommodating environmentally desirable qualities in all development. This paper considers how far local planning authorities through their development control powers are likely to fulfill this role. Drawing on the content analysis of local plans, this paper identifies the framework for development control particularly on envrionmental matter. It also examines the conditions that accompanied a planning approval to determine the extent of control pertaining to environmental aspects. The results indicate the lack of consideration given to environmental related matters compared to the traditional concerns of land use planning. Finally the paper discusses the constraint of the present system and prospects to facilitate better management.