As the official guest at today's Malaysia Property Exposition (Mapex) 2007, Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Dato' Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has called for developers to pay heed to the rules and regulations that state the mandatory nature of placing barrier free access for the disabled and elderly in their developments.

"Although developments today are better than before with a paradigm shift in creating more liveable homes within a happy community, disabled access is insufficient, even with the proper by-laws stated," she said.

Shahrizat requested the Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda), the organisers of Mapex 2007, to develop a strategic plan to solve the need for disabled-friendly housing and buildings. 

"By 2010, our growing aging minority will need the proper infrastructure to support them. So far, even the new buildings in Kuala Lumpur have failed to follow rules and regulations," she added.