Cyber Space

I read an article reporting about IT trend for year 2011. The report predicted that in years to come people will carry more gadget with them and communication is so mobile and instant. Basically reading newspaper with conventional means is considered outdated as we are reading yesterday's news today. More people will rely on online news and instant messages for updating themselves.

Presently many will carry their PDA or mobile phone with laptop, but in very near future we might only carry a smart phone incorporating the functions for communication, data keeping, searching of news and information, personal management or even company management. Perhaps the size of smart phone will be getting smaller and smarter, of course cheaper.

So, the question is how does this trend impact on town planning? Once people are on the move all the time, communicating becomes so convenient and easy, transaction of businesses within a split second and with finger tips, then it means requirement for physical space is reducing and occupation ratio per staff is getting smaller. Of course, the requirement for travelling is diminishing as well. So, the provision of commercial floor space will also be affected as we will occupied and used the space effectively and efficiently.

Welcome to the cyber world, sooner or later depending how an individual embraces it.

Land Matter for Social Services

Compatibility of land matter and planning? While planning is moving forward taking the trend and direction of development in line with the vision of a city, the restriction of land procedure has hindered the plan from implementation. For example, in order to allow old folk home to cater for the social need, bungalow house is allowed to be converted for limited use. However, when it comes to land matter, the National Land Code does not allow conversion of land title to non-residential use. It means the planning decision is not complied with the land restriction.

The question is shall we adjust the land restriction in anticipating the planning need. If we are concerned about changes in community development and providing the social services are critical, then land restriction shall be relaxed to allow for such provision. For example, to allow residential unit that fulfill the planning requirement to be converted for kindergarten, nursery or other social community services.

Quality vs Quantity

Between quality and quantity, which one is more important? When it comes to hard work in which labour is required, then quantity is critical. For example, to carry something you need to have more hands. That is the idea for many project proponents when it comes to development. Many project proponents believe that having higher intensity will bring in better return and yield. That's why most of the time they ask for 4 storey of shop house rather than settle for 2 storey or 3 storey of shop building. Is this true?

Look at Bangsar area, a 2 storey shop lot demanded much more higher price compared to a 5 storey shop building in other area like Cheras or Kepong. Some argue that Bangsar can command such high price because of the strategic location and presence of the affluent society there. However, buildings in Hartamas or Mutiara Damansara also command higher price compared to other area indicated that apart from location, concept of development is also playing a major part in determining the price of building.

If this is true, in other word, quantity itself is not the only pricing factor. Quality is more critical as well.

Key to Quality Service Delivery

How to improve the delivery service of local authority? This is the topic for discussion during a gathering of MBPJ councillors and officers last month. The discussion centred on 5 main topics, namely leadership, human capital, ICT, finance as well as publicity and marketing. Many of the important components have been categorised under these five topics. These include bureaucracy, legal provision, competency and capacity, strategic actions, stakeholders relationship and other management issues.


While many of these are not new, most of these have no immediate solution. For example, although state of art technology is available, the capability of staff to handle it is low and become a hindrance for applying the technology to improve quality of service.

At the end of the day, it is competency counted. Capability of human is the key to implementation. We need staff with competency and capability, but also not to forget the commitment and compassion of doing things. It is critical to have dedicated staff for planning, implementing and monitoring programmes. The hope is there for effective service delivery if everyone put their 3"H" together, namely the heart, head and hand.

Retreat

I attended few retreats over the last one month. Generally the retreats meant to discuss achievement for the past year and plan new work programmes for next year. I found that objectives of meeting are easily achievable as all attendees are discussing matters under a relax mood. Everyone is allowed to voice their grievances and opinion openly and received responses in constructive manner. The atmosphere is so cordial.

But at time, if serious matters are discussed then it will turn out to be hotly debated. Perhaps because everyone is in the relax mood and got a shock when a heated debate is started. So, may be it is good to not bring up serious matters for discussion during a retreat.

Implementation Gap

We have discussion about intensity development recently. One reckons that intensity of development is relative to the capacity of infrastructure and level of service on the road network. If capacity of the road can cater for more vehicles or the public transportation system is effective, then it is not a problem for granting higher density or plot ratio for a development project. Everyone agreed to the opinion but nobody knows and convinces that this will happen. Obviously many have no confidence on execution plan. Implementation has always become a major obstacle to planning.

While we can have plans outlining various measures to overcome the problems or to improve existing situation, the implementation will determine how effective the measures.

We always put in a lot of resources to come out a so-called good plan, but never bother to spend equal resources for the implementation or monitoring of the plan implementation. Why is this so?

The problem lies with the segmentation of planners and implementers. Most of the time, bridging gap is a problem. Plans are not filtered down well and implemented properly because the implementers have different priority and at time might not understand what have been planned for.

So, bottom of the problem is the structural arrangement. Better communication is needed. More platform and means of communication for better interaction and understanding will bridge the gap between planners and implementers.

Free Bus Service

I attended a briefing delivered by the State Government of Penang yesterday. One of the interesting innovation they have carried out is the providing of FREE bus service in the CBD of Georgetown. The bus service is provided by Rapid Penang and fully pay by the Municipal Council of Penang. I was told that the Council is paying RM50,000 per month to get the service done. After listening to the briefing, I cannot resist on trying out myself the service provided. It is pretty good covering the major destinations in CBD area, namely the KOMTAR, Padang Kota, Jetty and others.


To say the least, I am impressed with the political will and management commitment of the Council to provide public transportation service. While many have argued that public transportation is under the juridic ion of Federal Government and the local authority can only have minor responsibility, I disagree with the argument. The example of Penang Municipal Council proved that local authorities can have a big role to play in providing public transportation service and not to confine to providing bus stop, bus lane and sign board only, after all everyone is kept talking about having an efficient public transportation service for overcoming the traffic congestion and other road-based traffic problem.


If the local authorities do not take pro-active action in solving the transportation problems, or the least is to complimenting efforts of others to reduce the traffic problems, then it is a problem that forever cannot keep up with the pace of development, i personally think.