A review of Malaysia solid waste management policies to improve recycling practice and waste separation among households

Households are the primary source that contributes to the municipal solid waste and thus, it is well justified that they should be targeted in waste recycling policies for the improvement of recycling rates in this nation. Aware of the significant role among the household, Malaysia has taken a series of initiative to improve the national policies for solid waste management to foster waste separation practices among household. These waste management policies focused on waste separation and waste recycling behaviour among households in Malaysia. This is because a well-managed and planned waste policy is one of the vital factors that will enhance waste separation and recycling behaviour among households. This paper attempts to summarise the waste management policies in Malaysia, chronologically and summarise the solid waste management and transformation plans in a timeline table for the ease of reference among future researcher and policymaker. This is to provide them with a better understanding of the progression of waste management policies and regulations in Malaysia

Implementation of Environmental Sustainability Strategies for Real Estate Development in Developing Nations: An Empirical Study from Ghana

Real estate development is an important physical development activity in every economy. However, conventional real estate development poses multiple threats worldwide to environmental sustainability especially in emerging economies. As a developing country, Ghana is one of countries that did not attain Millennium Development Goals (MDG7 for instance) before the promulgation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this paper examined the main environmental sustainability strategies implemented by real estate developers in Ghana to safeguard the environment. After synthesizing relevant literature on real estate development in the context of sustainability, a conceptual basis for the research was established, then a closed-ended questionnaire was set and used to gather field data from purposively sampled developers from Accra and Tema Metropolitan areas which are noted for active real estate development in Ghana. Using descriptive (frequencies and weighted mean ranking) and inferential (chi-squared) statistics, the field data was analyzed using SPSS v23. The analysis revealed that out of the ESS attributes for real estate development established from the literature, less than 30% were mostly implemented in the country. With a p-value of 0.05 (chi-squared), none of the main attributes of Energy Efficiency (EE) and Water Efficiency (WE) strategies were implemented during the post construction stage of real estate development (RED) process albeit they implemented at the pre-construction to the construction stages. However, except one of the three Sustainable Site Planning and Management (SSPM) strategies which was not implemented in the pre-construction stage, the rest were implemented through the RED process. Hence, the level of implementation of strategies SSPM, EE, WE and construction materials and resources efficiency (CMRE) for real estate development was generally low. As a result, stakeholders in the physical development process of the country need to significantly influence real estate developers to implement more environmentally efficient strategies in real estate development

Implementation of Environmental Sustainability Strategies for Real Estate Development in Developing Nations: An Empirical Study from Ghana

Real estate development is an important physical development activity in every economy. However, conventional real estate development poses multiple threats worldwide to environmental sustainability especially in emerging economies. As a developing country, Ghana is one of countries that did not attain Millennium Development Goals (MDG7 for instance) before the promulgation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Therefore, this paper examined the main environmental sustainability strategies implemented by real estate developers in Ghana to safeguard the environment. After synthesizing relevant literature on real estate development in the context of sustainability, a conceptual basis for the research was established, then a closed-ended questionnaire was set and used to gather field data from purposively sampled developers from Accra and Tema Metropolitan areas which are noted for active real estate development in Ghana. Using descriptive (frequencies and weighted mean ranking) and inferential (chi-squared) statistics, the field data was analyzed using SPSS v23. The analysis revealed that out of the ESS attributes for real estate development established from the literature, less than 30% were mostly implemented in the country. With a p-value of 0.05 (chi-squared), none of the main attributes of Energy Efficiency (EE) and Water Efficiency (WE) strategies were implemented during the post construction stage of real estate development (RED) process albeit they implemented at the pre-construction to the construction stages. However, except one of the three Sustainable Site Planning and Management (SSPM) strategies which was not implemented in the pre-construction stage, the rest were implemented through the RED process. Hence, the level of implementation of strategies SSPM, EE, WE and construction materials and resources efficiency (CMRE) for real estate development was generally low. As a result, stakeholders in the physical development process of the country need to significantly influence real estate developers to implement more environmentally efficient strategies in real estate development

Acceptance of waste separation at source practice among households: a literature review

The successful of waste separation at source depends on the willingness and good practices among the residents. The participation rate of waste separation in Malaysia is low and there is an urgency to foster waste separation practice among the household. Considering that, the Separation at Source Initiative (SSI) under Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 (Act 672), effective on September 2015 mandatory require the resident to separate waste in their dwelling, but the SSI still received resistance from the households. A careful investigation of the factors and barriers that motivate and prohibit the waste separation practice at source should be conducted, this required further investigation on multiple acceptance dimensions, including: socio-political, community, market, and technology. This paper explains the rationale to investigate the multiple acceptance dimensions for fostering waste separation practice among the household

Applications of google maps, GPS and GIS in managing taxable property in local authority (case study: Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah)

A geographic information system (GIS) is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present three-dimensional or geographic data. GPS signals include reaching signals, used to measure the distance to the satellite, and navigation messages. The navigation messages include ephemeris data, used to calculate the position of each satellite in orbit, and information about the time and status of the entire satellite constellation, called the handbook

The Needs For Capacity Building In Local Government In Malaysia (With Regards To Property Taxation Administration)

Property tax is a widely used fiscal tool because it is a vital source of income for urban authorities in developing countries like Malaysia. The tax, levied on land and buildings and is based on either improved or annual value. Valuation of these properties is a tedious and continuous process. In Malaysia, the revaluation exercise is still carried out manually. Due to financial, labour, and time constraints, most Local Governments in Malaysia are unable to meet this requirement and only capable to carry out revaluation every 10 years or more. Property taxation administration involves and requires good and skilled administrators, efficient system (property tax administration system) and advanced or efficient technology. University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has embarked on research and development of Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) for rating valuation to assist Department of Property Valuation in Local Governments to improve their capacity with regards to property taxation administration for the purpose of complying with the requirements of the Local Government Act 1976 which stipulated that every Local Government has to carry out revaluation every five (5) years. This paper discusses the capacity building in local governments in Malaysia and identifies areas in which they are lacking

The Prospect of Applying CAMA System for rating Valuation in Malaysia

Traditionally in Malaysia, the valuation of properties can conceivably be conducted using four methods including Cost method, Comparison method, Residual method, and Profit method. Of all these methods, the comparison method is the most common approach used by the appraisals. As per Local Authorities Act 1976 (Act 171), all properties are required to be valued every five years. The revaluation or valuation of the property has been carried out by manual approach. This process is very tedious, time consuming and cost effective. It also requires more manpowers and maintaining manual records is a difficult task. In practice, most of appraisals in Malaysia are using conventional system for the valuation of a property. However the countries like United Kingdom, Australia, U.S, Africa, New Zealand and Europe were systemised with the use of CAMA (i.e. computerized system) to reduce the labour cost and time. Therefore, this CAMA system is very much essential to the appraisals at local authorities in Malaysia due to the increase in quantity of properties. The technique applied in CAMA is a quantitative approach called the multiple regression analysis for analysing market data to produce a set of models for valuation purposes. Now this system is particularly used in different states of Malaysia especially in Johor and Pahang. Also GIS system is incorporated with CAMA system to identify the location of the properties. This CAMA-GIS system, developed using a combination of softwares (statistical packages, database and GIS), is menu-driven and user-friendly. The system is developed in different stages. The initial stage involves a study on the data requirement for appraisal purposes. The aim is to identify the possible variables influencing the values for model building. Once the set of determinant variables is established, the database is then designed by incorporating basic information of property such as property ownership, land area, lot number, and account number needed for the purpose of property tax administration. Moreover the analysis of user requirements and needs are carried out to provide information for the database and user-interface designs. Once completed, the system accomplishes the primary objective of arriving at the value of properties that are reliable, accurate, equitable and defensible. The system can also display the geographical information thus improves the administration of property tax. , ,

Property tax in Malaysia and South Africa: a question of assessment capacity and quality assurance

Many developing countries have been strengthening subnational government through decentralisation policies (Shah 2004). The supporting argument is based on the increased efficiency and welfare gains that come from moving governance closer to the people (Bahl 2009). Fiscal decentralisation can increase revenue mobilisation because it involves subnational government more directly in taxation, and, in many respects, a lower tier of government can reach wealth-based taxes in ways that central government cannot. The broadening of the local tax base, particularly with property taxes, gives subnational government a potentially lucrative revenue source (Cornia 2013; Kitchen 2013; Walters 2013). In terms of revenue mobilisation, the tax bases that are efficient and simple to administer at a subnational level tend to be few (Bird and Slack 2008; Mikesell 2013). Non-tax revenues (including user charges, licences, rents, and fees) tend to be limited in scope and revenuegenerating capacity. Local tax bases, according to Bird and Slack (2003), are narrow due to the possibility of tax exportation, externalities in the provision of public goods and services, factor mobility, and economies of scale. Broad tax bases, such as personal income tax, corporate income tax, and value-added tax (VAT), are generally best managed at higher levels of government. As a result, if subnational governments are to be important providers of public goods and services, it is necessary for higher level jurisdictions to share part of their revenues with subnational governments through transfers and grants to bridge the gap between spending and revenues mobilised locally (Bahl and Cyan 2010)