THE government will not approve housing development plans that fail to comply with stipulated conditions, including the requirement to provide amenities for people with disabilities.

Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Ismail Abd Muttalib said the ministry is responsible for ensuring that developers not only abide by the conditions under the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 (Act 685), but also the Housing Construction Industry Standards.

“The local authorities must also look into the details of the needs of the disabled and ensure that approvals are not given as long the housing plans do not fulfil the requirements.

“We have a clear set of rules and will enforce them if they (developers) fail to fulfil the conditions,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the Dewan Negara today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Senator Ras Adiba Radzi, who wanted to know what action would be taken against developers who fail to follow the specifications on amenities for the disabled.

In reply to Ras Adiba’s original question on the ministry’s efforts to address the issue of home ownership among the disabled, Ismail said it had been the ministries responsibility to ensure liveable housing for all groups, including the disabled.

He said the 2019 National Standards of Housing issued by the Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) had outlined the universal design as a guideline for the design of buildings and support facilities component, in consideration of the elderly, children, disabled groups.

The standards also cover disabled-friendly parking lots, walkways,  elevators, toilets and accessibility to switches or plugs.

“The ministry always ensures that no group, including the disabled, is left behind when it comes to housing. It has been set that 1% of the total people’s housing programme units is allocated to the disabled in the B40 group.

“As of August 31, 2021, there are 154 projects providing 97,196 housing units nationwide and of the total, 936 units have been allocated for the disabled and 809 units (86.4%) are already occupied,” he said. – Bernama, October 18, 2021.