More green buildings by 2020 in Greater KL

The Greater KL/Klang Valley programme, expected to host 10 million people in 2020, will have to have "higher, denser, faster and greener" buildings to accommodate the population, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said on Monday.

He said better public transport to ease people to move around inside the city, encouragement for groundfield developments with higher plot ratio and greening the city projects were part of the enhancement efforts to make the city more livable.

"For those who are living further away from the city, public transport such as the MRT (mass rapid transit) will allow them to move inside the city at a much faster pace," he told reporters after opening the Greater KL and Smart Cities Summit.

He, however, said emphasis is being given to attract people to live back in the city to reduce car usage.

Raja Nong Chik said among the efforts taken are identifying areas that are de-generating in Kuala Lumpur and regenerating them with higher plot ratio to amortise the land cost and provide cheaper and affordable housing to the people such as the 1Malaysia People's Housing (PR1MA) programme.

To encourage reduction of car usage, the ministry planned to build 10 kilometres pedestrian walkways within Kuala Lumpur this year, in addition to the existing 23 kilometres pedestrian walkways, to give comfort to pedestrians and tourists, he said.

For the greener environment, he said, the River Beautification Project, which will transform the Klang and Gombak rivers, will kick-start this year apart from the continuous tree-planting programme within the city.

"So far, most of the Greater KL/Klang Valley projects are on target. Only one or two is behind schedule," he said.

"I'm quite confident that we will be coming quite close to the target by 2020 if we can progress at this rate excluding any hindrance," he added.

The Greater KL/Klang Valley Project, one of the National Key Economic Areas under the Economic Transformation Programme, is aimed at increasing the population in the area and boost its gross national income to RM650 billion per year by 2020 from about RM258 billion currently.

Themed "Gearing up for Sustainable Growth Through Smart Initiatives", the Greater KL and Smart Cities Summit will discuss the theory, best practices and practical implementation methods from successful cities that can be introduced in the Greater KL/Klang Valley Plan.