Air quality issues in the environmental impact assessment reports of housing and resort & recreational projects

Air quality issues are becoming of greater concern to the society because of the negative effects to human beings and the environment. This paper describes the results of a review on air quality issues in fifty (50) Environmental Impact Assessment reports (EIA) prepared for housing and
resort & recreational projects in Malaysia. The results show that 56% of the evaluated reports are in need of detailed assessment. It was found that around 38% of the reports have described the monitoring methods quantitatively. In term of impact identification and prediction 56% of the reports have briefly addressed the issue. In 12% of the reports the mitigation measures were
explained too briefly. The overall assessments of 64% of the reports were acceptable. It can be concluded that more concern should also be given to the monitoring of other pollutants such as CO, CO2 and NO2, not only Total Suspended Solid (TSP). Standard mitigation measures for the
housing and resort & recreational projects should be determined. The project proponent should be legally bounded to ensure that he will be committed to implement the mitigation measures.