Environmental risk assessment on a hill site development in Penang Malaysia

Abstract

Penang is one of the areas in Malaysia that have corrugated and hilly topography. Construction activities in these areas are increasing day by day, primarily for residential and commercial purpose. Such rapid development put the environment in risk by causing flood, changes of climate, landslides etc., and becomes a threat to the life and property of local inhabitants. This paper describes the risk assessment for Paya Terubung in Penang that are exposed to such risk. Assessments are made by using rating systems and are developed after modification from other existing guidelines and requirements. Results from the evaluation are also shown in environmental risk map with the application of Geographical Information System (GIS) to identify high, moderate or low risk areas. The results show that 12 % of project sites are at high environmental risk in Paya Terubung, 44 % at medium environmental risk and others at low environmental risk. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.