Adopt risk-based urban planning to avoid repeat of Putra Heights incident

Free Malaysia Today

09-05-2025

A gas pipeline fire on April 1 caused severe damage to houses and vehicles, and traumatised the local community.
PETALING JAYA : Malaysia needs to adopt risk-based urban planning to prevent future disasters involving high-risk infrastructure, says an expert.
Commenting on a housing rental association's call for mandatory density impact studies in new projects, Camelia May Li Kusumo said although such tools exist in the National Physical Plan and Town and Country Planning Act 1976, they do not account for threats posed by underground gas pipelines.
'The term 'density impact study' typically refers to evaluations assessing the effects of increasing building density on factors like housing prices or indoor air temperatures,' she told FMT.
Camelia May Li Kusumo.
Kusumo, of Taylor's University, said risks like gas pipelines are typically assessed under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process — but even that may be inadequate today.
'The federal guidelines themselves must be periodically updated to reflect changing land use and urban density,' she said.
'For example, while the pipelines in Putra Heights were constructed around 50 years ago, the residential area in the vicinity was only developed 26 years ago. The land-use patterns and urban density in the area have significantly evolved since then.'
The April 1 fire in Putra Heights severely damaged homes and vehicles, traumatising the local community and prompting calls for tougher planning requirements.
To prevent similar incidents, Kusumo called for regulatory reforms, including a location classification system for high-risk infrastructure, and real-time monitoring technologies, including through the use of remote pressure sensors and smart meters.
'This would allow for better risk modelling and the determination of safe distances between buildings and hazardous facilities,' she said.
Noor Hashimah Hashim Lim.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya's Noor Hashimah Hashim Lim said authorities must also prioritise comprehensive underground infrastructure mapping.
'Otherwise, we are digging our grounds blindly, which may cause an impact on nearby underground infrastructure,' she said.
Noor Hashimah said the data gap hampers the efforts of local authorities to set effective development requirements.
She said developers typically comply with requirements once they are formally set, but will aim to meet the bare minimum unless the rules are clear and consistently enforced.
'If the authorities themselves do not have enough data to make informed decisions, then their requirements to developers will also be loose,' she said.