Posted on 02 Jul 2015
Under the new regulation, offenders, upon conviction, will be liable to a fine not exceeding RM50,000 for usage of construction materials not certified in accordance to the CIDB Malaysia Act 1994.
In the case of a continuing offence, offenders shall be liable to a fine not exceeding RM500 for every day or part of a day during which the offence continues after conviction.
"MSA strongly supports this law that will penalise builders who use substandard construction building materials such as steel bars. This will ensure the safety and integrity of the construction works and protect the lives of the people," MSA president Tan Sri William Cheng said in a statement yesterday.
Cheng highlighted an incident that occurred recently at a construction site in Alor Gajah, Malacca where the building under construction had collapsed and took the lives of three persons."MSA representative who visited the site discovered that at the collapsed structure, there were various deformed bars not produced by SIRIM-compliant Malaysian steel mills. These bars appeared to have come from overseas.
"MSA cannot be certain if these imported bars conformed to SIRIM standards or have the correct Certificate of Approval from CIDB," he said.He also urged CIDB to check the building materials' compliance with the recently gazetted regulations to ensure public safety and that such tragic incidents are not repeated in the future.
