IPOH: The Ipoh City Council is setting up a surveillance team to inspect pre-war and colonial buildings, in the wake of the recent collapse of the buildings at Fair Park here.
State executive councillor Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the team would conduct checks upon receiving complaints from the public or requests from owners to have their premises looked at.
Ground zero: Motorists driving past the site where a row of pre-war buildings collapsed along Jalan Kamaruddin Isa in Fair Park on Friday.The team will comprise experts from the council and the Public Works Department (PWD), he added.
According to Dr Mah, the local government authority had the jurisdiction to issue notices to owners under Section 83 of the Drainage and Buildings Act 1974 to check their buildings.
“Action can be taken against those who refuse to comply. We will do it for the safety of the public,” he told reporters yesterday after attending a preliminary meeting into the collapse of the buildings at the demolition site.
In the 9.30pm incident on Friday, two passengers in a car were killed while another was injured when a row of pre-war buildings on Jalan Kamaruddin Isa collapsed onto the vehicle.
The buildings were being demolished to make way for eight units of three-storey shoplots.
While the opinion of experts was needed to decide whether a particular building was structurally sound, there were telltale signs as to how safe a building was, said Dr Mah.
“Cracks, tears and leaning of walls are all telltale signs. I urge the public to report to us or least to keep us informed when they come across buildings in such a state,’’ he said, adding that the public could call the council’s hotline at 05-2551515.
He added that the first job for the team was to inspect the two rows of buildings along Jalan Gopeng in Sungai Raia.
On the meeting, Dr Mah said building forensics officers from the PWD and the Department of Safety and Health would hold further meetings before coming up with a detailed report on the collapse.
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