Waterfront development in Malaysia: do we have sustainable governance?
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Date
2011
Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
The waterfront is recognised as the zone of interaction between a city and a river. In
Malaysia, waterfront developments were established when the country was first
settled, mainly as a transport route and for trading. Waterfronts became more
urbanised and commercialised from the early 1990’s onwards. However, due to
constraints such as ineffective governance as well as inadequate federal, state and
municipal planning guidelines, the waterfronts have problems such as environmental
degradation, crime and flooding. Although some waterfront development projects
continue to remain profitable, with good public access, many do not.
This paper examines the effectiveness of governance for waterfront developments in
Malaysia. The data presented in this paper was obtained from in-depth interviews
with stakeholders involved in waterfront development projects in Malaysia; in
particular, from three selected case study areas: Kuching Riverfront, Malacca
Waterfront and Glenmarie Cove Riverfront. The interview results show that Malaysia
does not have effective governance for waterfront developments for several reasons. A
low level of cooperation between stakeholders involved in waterfront development
projects was identified as a main contributor to the governance problems. These
results will be used to provide information for developing guidelines for best practice
for waterfront developments in Malaysia.