Development Urban Centre

The development and management of urban centers is a very complex and challenging task. Developing solutions for urban issues and challenges in the cities of the 21st century is most critical.

Malaysia’s overriding concern in its urban and industrialization plans and programmes is for its urban citizens to achieve a certain level of living standard that will commensurate with the country’s status of a developed nation by the year 2020.

In Malaysia today about 60 per cent of the population reside in urban areas indicating the country is facing rapid urbanization resulting from rural to urban migration.

Our cities and towns are going to be the frontiers for building a new Malaysia. This is where our local authorities have to play a pivotal and crucial role to deal with the many challenges and problems in the urbanized environment.

Local government therefore takes on a center stage as it must have the capacity and the wherewithal to cope with the many issues and find quick and effective answers to community needs and services.

Local government, instead of being the lowest level of government, should become the highest in terms of community needs and services.

As Malaysia undergoes rapid urbanization and with the creation of more cities and towns, local governments which are responsible for providing the community’s needs and services should be put on the national agenda.

To cope with the challenges or urbanization, we need to ensure that our local government service has a much higher capacity in terms of professionalism.

Improving the efficiency of local government requires the appointment of more technical staff such as architects, engineers and other qualified professionals to fill up vacant positions and provide the back-up so that capacity building can be improved.

For local governments to function effectively they must be receptive to public feedback. In this connection, popular participation needs to be promoted with the involvement by citizens through the setting up of consultative committees in which the public can put forward their views and suggestions.

Urbanization should also lead to community spirit building. Where new buildings and housing estates are built, pro-active efforts must be made to build a sense of community and co-operation among the multiethnic residents which will be beneficial to our multiracial country in terms of generating goodwill and unity.

Cities and towns must have a clear vision and adopt a holistic approach in managing their future.

They must be shaped and developed with five key elements in mind namely, they must be developed to be socially just, ecologically sustainable, politically participatory, economically productive and culturally vibrant.