Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172]

Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172] is enacted pursuant to Clause (4) of Article 76 of the Federal Constitution. This Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia and comes into operation in a State on a date to be appointed by the State Authority, with the concurrence of the Minister, by notification in the State Gazette. The State Authority may appoint different dates for the coming into operation of this Act in different areas or parts of the State. The states of Sabah , Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur enforce their own sets of planning legislation.

Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 contains 9 Parts with 59 Sections originally. It was amended 4 times over the years from 1993 to 2007.

Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment)1993 [Act A866]

Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172] was amended in 1993 and was known as Act A866. This Act was amended by inserting a provision concerning sewerage activities to be in line with the Sewerage Services Act 1993 [Act 508] that was enacted in the same year.

Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment) 1995 [Act A933]

In 1995, Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172] was amended to address the rapid development that neglects the importance of environmental conservation with regards to tree preservation order. The entire provision on tree preservation is available in Part VA beginning from Sections 35A to 35H of the Act.

Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment) 2001 [Act A1129]

Once again the Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172] was amended and known as Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment) 2001 [Act A1129]. It was amended to address problems arisen in the property sector and to enable Federal Government to play its role pertaining to town and country planning issues which was in line with the cooperative spirit under the Federal Constitution.

There are two new parts introduced in the Act, that are Part II A Regional Planning Committee and Part II B National Physical Plan. This amendment also contains several new and innovative proximities in town planning system especially of the development plans and planning control as in the Act 172.

Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment) 2007 [Act A1313]

Town and Country Planning Act, 1976 [Act 172] was amended and known as Town and Country Planning Act (Amendment) 2007 [Act A1313]. This Act was amended by inserting a provision concerning the management of controlled solid waste and public cleansing.

Subsection 22(2) of Act 172 was amended to enable a local planning authority to take into consideration the provisions of the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Act 2007 [Act 672] in dealing with an application for planning permission. The Act 672 was gazetted on 30 August 2007 .