Board of Engineers ready to scrap the CF

Sunday Times 11/07/2004

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. - The Board of Engineers Malaysia is moving fast to make the Certificate of Fitness for Occupation obsolete.

Board chairman Tan Sri Zaini Omar said today they would meet Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu on Monday to state their readiness to implement the Government's plan to scrap the CF.

The proposal to do away with the CF was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi on June 25, a month after the matter was brought up in the Cabinet.

Abdullah subsequently directed the Housing and Local Government Ministry to study the possibility of doing away with the need to have local authority approval before a building is declared safe for occupation.

Only certification by the consultant engineers and architects, based on trust and transparency, would be necessary.

Although the move to abolish the CF might take some time as it needs careful study, Zaini said engineers were ready for the task of certifying that a building was safe for occupancy.