CHAPTER 4

APPROVAL PROCESS OF EIA REPORT

APPROVAL PROCESS OF EIA REPORT IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Section 34A (2) EQA 1974 : any person who is intended to carry out any prescribed activity must submit an EIA report to the Director General

Section 34A (6) EQA 1974: any person who is intended to carry out any prescribed activity must submit an EIA report and get approval from the Director General before commencement of the activity

Approval Process of PEIA Report by DOE

Submission of PEIA Report to the DOE State Offices

One-stop Agency Meeting : comment and verifications from relevant agencies are sought

Approval/ rejection of PEIA Report by State Director

Approval Process of DEIA Report by DOE

Submission of DEIA Report to the DOE Headquarters

Public Display and Comment:Announcement on local newspaper, publishing DEIA Report at all DOE Offices, public and university libraries

DEIA ad hoc Review Panel:Review DEIA Reports and formulate recommendations to the relevant project approving authority

Recommendations arising out of review are transmitted to the relevant project approving authorities for consideration in making a decision on the project

Approval/ Rejection of DEIA Report by Director General

APPROVAL PROCESS OF EIA REPORT IN SARAWAK

PEIA Report

Submission of PEIA Report

Panel commenting on the PEIA Report

Review Meeting

Approval/ Rejection

DEIA Report

Submission of Terms of Reference (TOR)

Ad-Hoc Review Panel decides whether the EIA study is in accordance to the TOR format

Ad-Hoc Review Panel Meeting

Approval/ Rejection

APPROVAL PROCESS OF EIA REPORT IN SABAH

PEIA Report

Submission of PEIA Report

Committee Review

Approval/ Rejection

DEIA Report

Submission of DEIA Report

Public Hearing: 14 days to comment

Review Panel

Agreement of Environmental Conditions

Approval/ Rejection

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED PRIOR TO APPROVAL

The factors to be considered by the reviewers in making decision over an EIA Report:

1) Magnitude2) Prevalence3) Duration and frequency4) Risk5) Importance6) Mitigation(see Appendix 10 of EIA Handbook)

Under Section 34A (3) and (4) EQA 1974, before the Director General can approve the EIA Report he shall:

1) Make necessary inquiries;2) Examine whether the report has assessed the

impacts on the environment and proposed mitigation measures; and

3) Examine whether mitigation are adequate

OTHER ASSESSMENT PROCESS

• Apart from EIA report, it appears that there are projects which require special assessment process apart from EIA.

• For an example, in Lynas project, it appears to be two separate assessment process i.e EIA under DOE and the Radiological Impact Assessment (RIA) under the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).

• These two assessment may give rise to conflicts of interests.

APPROVAL OF EIA REPORT BY APPROVING AUTHORITY

• Section 34A(6) EQA1974: All prescribed activities need to obtain EIA approval from the DG of DOE prior to the giving of approval by the relevant approving authority.

• The Approving Authority is the Government Authority that has task of deciding, whether or not a project should proceed.

The Approving Authority includes the following:

•For Federal Government sponsored projects

The National Development Planning

Committee (NDPC)

•For State Government sponsored projects

The respective State Planning Authorities

•For the State Executive Committee (EXCO)

The Regional Development

Authorities

•For industrial projectsMinistry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) (with due reference

to the Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA)

Federal and State Jurisdictional Issues

• Article 74 of the Federal Constitution: Matters relating to land, rivers, forest, town and country planning and local government are within the jurisdiction of the respective State Authority.

• At the same time the management of these resources is beyond the scope of EQA 1974 and the role of DOE.

• Thus, the major constraint towards an effective EIA model in Malaysia pertains to the constitutional limitation on its jurisdiction with respect to environmental management.

MONITORING AND COMPLIANCE AUDITING

Activities of the

project

Phsyco chemical impact, biological impact and soci-economic impact

Assessment of impacts

Mitigation enhancement

measures

Monitoring of the environmental

parameters

Compliance audit process

Modifications of mitigation

CONCLUSION

• Successful implementation of EIA is very much depends on the close cooperation between Federal and State Authority but sometimes such cooperation cannot be achieved when there is a conflict of interest between Federal and State Authority in approving the proposed projects.