KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today urged all ministries and agencies at the national, state and local levels to spare no effort in strengthening their bottom-up feedback systems.
This, he said, is imperative to ensure integration and cooperation, apart from better coordination of action plans and matters related to the implementation of government policies.
He said enhancing bottom-up feedback systems would enable ministries and government agencies to reduce mismatches between "real needs and plans".
"With just 10 years to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we should not only address the challenges and aspirations mentioned. We need to report and show our action plans, progress and efforts towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in view of the vision for Malaysia to be a Sustainable Urban Nation.
"All these, undoubtedly, require concerted efforts by ministries and agencies at the national, state and local levels to work together to align our policies and strategies.
"This is to ensure our future growth will take place in a more responsible, integrated and sustainable manner," Muhyiddin said in his speech at the opening ceremony of the Malaysia Urban Forum 2020 (MUF 2020) here today.
Present were Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, Urbanise Malaysia chief executive officer Norliza Hashim and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) executive director Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif.
The three-day forum, themed "Sustainable Urban Nation 2030 – The Transformative Pathway and Actions to Deliver the Sustainable Agenda" provides a platform for 164 experts and participants to share and deliberate ideas, solutions and progress made towards the implementation of SDGs.
Muhyiddin said the number of Malaysians residing in urban areas is expected to increase from 77 per cent now to 80 per cent (or 26 million people) by 2030.
"With such a large population in the cities, we will be even more challenged to provide for the needs of our urban societies – manage the waste generated, overcome increasing traffic problems and air pollution, provide affordable homes, ensure sufficient access to water, uninterrupted power supply, provide quality access to public transportation and telecommunications as well as overcome severe flooding in cities," he said.
Muhyiddin said cities and urban environments in Malaysia must be age and gender-friendly to meet challenges brought about by changes in the country's demographic profiles.
He noted that Malaysia will become an ageing society by 2045, with 14 per cent of the population aged 65 years and above.
"This will bring about new challenges in health services needs and the physical environment.
"Hence, our cities and urban environments must be age and gender-friendly, as we prepare ourselves for this change in social profile.
"It is time for us to address the ageing society in our national development plans and relook our planning and physical development to meet the needs of the elderly," he added.