Instead, the focus should be on the enforcement of current laws. "It would be pointless to amend the laws if there is no enforcement.

"Even if there were a multi-million-ringgit deterrent sentence but no enforcement, it would amount to nothing," said Radzi, adding that many deterrent laws were on the books.

Applying the correct laws when framing a charge was also important.

"Get the right enactment or right Act. If they cut a tree, under some by-law the penalty could be as much as RM500,000 per tree. If the developer cuts down 20 trees, then the maximum penalty is RM10 million.

"It all rests on whether, in charging, the right laws have been considered. You can get the developer for every transgression."

If developers did not submit the layout plan, they should be fined for that, Radzi said, citing the Street, Drainage and Building Act, Town and Country Planning Act, Environmental Quality Act, and local government by-laws under which developers could also be charged.

"If we take all these into account when charging developers, the laws would be very effective," Radzi said.

Laws were also constantly being reviewed to ensure they were current, he added.

He was responding to the Deputy Prime Minister's statement last week that the Government would review outdated laws to keep them relevant to current needs.

"We look through various Acts, and if we see a need for them to be reviewed, we will look at them.

"When necessary, we will make the changes. We don't just rely on a case to happen before looking at the laws," said Radzi at a Press conference after visiting the construction site of the Kuala Lumpur court complex at Jalan Duta, here.

Touted as the "the biggest court complex under one roof in the world", the complex will house 26 magistrate's courts, 21 Sessions courts and 30 High courts, and have a built-up space of nearly 100,000 square metres.

The complex brings together all courts in Kuala Lumpur, which are now housed along Jalan Raja and in Wisma Denmark.

The project, which is 17 per cent complete and running 14 days ahead of schedule, is expected to be ready by Feb 26 next year.

Fully designed by an in-house team from the Public Works Department, the total cost of the project is RM290 million.

"This is a sum well worth spending, especially as 77 courts will bring in a lot of revenue," said Radzi.

There were also plans to construct such complexes in other States, as well as to upgrade old courts in rural districts.

"Hopefully there will be an allocation under the Ninth Malaysia Plan to build better courts or court complexes like this. The Government is trying very hard to get funds to upgrade courts," said Radzi, adding that more courts might lessen the backlog of cases.

Asked when the courts would be getting more judges to make up for the present shortage, Radzi said "we are going to get some new judges very soon".