Tuesday May 1, 2007
Pak Lah orders immediate inspection of government buildings
By SHAHANAAZ HABIB and ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN
KUALA LUMPUR: The Prime Minister has ordered an immediate inspection of all government buildings for defects.
This comes in the wake of three incidences of collapsing structures in the last three weeks – the most recent case being the new Court Complex in Jalan Duta, where a ceiling came crashing down yesterday.
“I feel angry. I feel ashamed. What the hell is this? It’s so new and such a thing happened.
“Something must have gone wrong somewhere. We need to know. I can’t be jumping all over the place!” said Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who directed the Public Works Department to carry out immediate inspections.
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Just checking: Abdullah and Najib looking up at the ceiling while the subject was on collapsing ceilings during the Umno supreme council meeting in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. |
Last Saturday, part of the ceiling of a multi-purpose hall at the Entrepreneurial Development and Co-operative Ministry collapsed, causing a water pipe to drop and burst in the process.
Yesterday’s incident at the Court Complex was the last straw for the Prime Minister.
He said all three buildings were new and therefore it was imperative that investigations were conducted to determine “what exactly had gone wrong.”
“We have to check all (government) buildings because of what has happened. Maybe there are some other places that we think there is no problem but later they, too, collapse.
“I have said repeatedly, ‘Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance.’ But people, as long as nothing happens, couldn’t be bothered,” he told a press conference after chairing the Umno supreme council meeting yesterday.
He noted that investigations at the Immigration headquarters found that one of the joints to the pipes was not properly secured.
Abdullah reiterated that inspections should be carried out on a continuous basis.
“Only then will they see where there may be problems,” he added.
In Shah Alam, Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said two pieces of 1.22m-long ceiling material collapsed inside the new court complex.
He said the collapse also brought down the downlights or ceiling lights that were not attached to the main structure of the ceiling.
Samy Vellu said the building was designed by architects from the PWD headquarters and built by Johawaki Development Sdn Bhd.
“The two pieces fell, along with the downlights, because the contractor had fixed the downlights without attaching them to the main ceiling structure,” he told reporters before opening the 61st Selangor MIC convention yesterday.
On the ceiling at the multi-purpose hall of the Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperative Ministry, Samy Vellu said Putrajaya Holdings was the master builder but the maintenance of the hall was taken over by Jutabina Sempurna Sdn Bhd from Oct 1, 2004 to Sept 30 this year.
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