Government buildings and buildings built by the government such as public university campuses do need the Certificate of Fitness given to them by the local authority once the buildings have been completed. This has been reported in the news as shown below.
We have only got the Malaysian Standards 1184 referred to in the amended 1991 version of the Uniform Building By-Laws under the Streets, Buildings and Drainage Act which stipulates under Section 34A that a new building which clearly excludes government buildings to comply with this legal requirement.
This makes our struggle for a Barrier-Free and Inclusive Built Environment more difficult. It suggests that the Government may or may not act upon or support our agenda of Barrier Free. The legislation is weak and the implementation is weaker.
Well, now for sure we need to have a different approach in all these lobbying.
CF not required
Llew-Ann Phang and Giam Say Khoon
PETALING JAYA (May 28, 2007): There is no legal requirement for government buildings to have a certificate of fitness (CF) before they are occupied and the onus is on the Works Ministry’s Public Works Department (PWD) to ensure the buildings are safe and meet specifications.Even so, Kuala Lumpur City Hall mayor Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan said, it would be ideal and safer for all buildings, including those belonging to the government, to obtain a CF.
“Some government offices have CF and some have none but this is usually the PWD’s decision,” he said when contacted yesterday.
A Malay daily had, on Saturday, quoted Ab Hakim as saying City Hall had not received any CF application for the Jalan Duta court complex and that there were many government buildings without such certification.
Asked to comment on the CF issue, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said: “In principle and to my understanding, if the buildings belong to the federal government, their designs come under the responsibility of PWD or other government agencies, and they can practise professional self-certification as the government engineers and architects are qualified to do so.
“In Kuala Lumpur, these buildings need to obtain a development order (before they can be built). After that, they can be self-certified (by the government’s engineers) who will then inform City Hall.”
Ong said he had yet to receive any official report from the local authority on the court complex as it came under the jurisdiction of City Hall, which was under the Federal Territories Ministry.
Persatuan Arkitek Malaysia president Dr Tan Loke Mun said: “The law is silent on requiring a government building to obtain a CF and it would usually be vetted by the PWD architects themselves.”
He said the development of government buildings was usually undertaken by PWD, which only needed to obtain a planning approval from the local authority as the project would involve the development site’s surroundings.
On April 17, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu handed over the RM270 million court complex — the second largest in the world — to Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim. Samy Vellu noted that the building was completed ahead of schedule.
On April 18, a crack was seen on a wall and at the end of the month, a portion of the ceiling collapsed in the room of a secretary to a civil court judge.
On May 8, the air-conditioning system broke down during a trial.
Last Wednesday, a pipe burst in the cafeteria and the problem was traced to the use of a sub-standard end-cap in the piping.
Two defective buildings in Putrajaya also made headlines: on April 11, the Immigration Department saw a massive leak which caused operations to be suspended, and on April 28, a portion of the ceiling collapsed at the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Ministry’s multi-purpose hall on April 28, also because of a leak.
Updated: 12:58AM Mon, 28 May 2007
