About 81 of the 534 areas earmarked for redevelopment under the proposed Urban Renewal Act, which the opposition has been fiercely against, are located in Perikatan Nasional-led states, Nga Kor Ming revealed.
The housing and local government minister said 55 areas are in Kedah, 22 in Terengganu and four in Kelantan.
According to Nga, these areas had been proposed by the respective PAS-led administrations in the past.
“Yet they now oppose the legislation. It’s an irrational approach,” he said in an interview with selected media.
Nga was referring to the protests against the bill by the opposition bloc at the Dewan Rakyat as well as the rejection of the proposed legislation by four PAS-led state governments.
The state governments claimed the proposed law would have huge repercussions on a state’s autonomy, land rights, as well as rights of local residents.
However, Nga dismissed the notion that state autonomy would be affected. He said all decisions would be made collectively, and menteris besar and chief ministers would chair state executive council committees to plan urban renewal.
“Even at the federal level, I do not sit on the executive committee. The committee comprises the mayor, chief secretary, director-general, representatives from the state government, professionals and negotiators. The decisions are made collectively,” he said.
The opposition had claimed that the bill gave the minister decision-making powers and favoured developers.
The proposed Urban Renewal Act seeks to replace outdated legislation and regulations governing the redevelopment of dilapidated urban areas. The bill will be tabled for a third reading and a vote at the next Dewan Rakyat sitting in October.
The bill outlines three types of projects: redevelopment, by tearing down and rebuilding housing projects; regeneration, involving repairs or upgrades to dilapidated or abandoned buildings; and revitalisation by upgrading or improving an area without demolishing the buildings.
Last year, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said initial discussions to the proposed law were held in 2013 before the process of drafting the bill was announced in 2015.
Anwar said the drafting of the bill was initiated in 2021 by the then housing and local government minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin, and continued in 2022 by her successor, Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
Nga said Terengganu had gazetted the areas for renewal in 2015, followed by Kedah three years later. However, there was no follow-up by the state governments.
“But now you find fault with me (for tabling the Urban Renewal Bill). Is that fair?” he said.
The bill had met resistance from opposition and some government MPs when it was tabled for debate at the Dewan Rakyat last week. Nga criticised the opposition for not backing the bill after it was pushed back to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting. He said urban renewal guidelines have existed since 2012 and previous governments also expressed the intention to pass this bill.
