KUALA LUMPUR: Selangor should enforce the Land Conservation Act, 1960 (Revised 1989) under which it has the power to control development of hilly areas, Land and Co-operative Development Ministry secretary-general Prof Datuk Dr Nik Mohd Zain said.

Under the Act, the state authorities should identify and gazette hilly land before allowing them to be developed, he said.

“If the state enforces the law, houses will not be allowed to be built on some hilly areas,” he told reporters in Parliament yesterday.

He said the country’s existing laws on hill land conservation were adequate but it was the responsibility of state authorities to enforce them.

He listed the laws as the Land and Conservation Act, the Town and Country Planning Act, the Housing Developers Act, and the National Land Code.

Dr Nik Mohd also said a committee on highlands under the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry should conduct a study on soil stability, rate of erosion and protection from hill development.