Council gets cracking on woes of residents
04/06/2008 The Star By Derrick Vinesh

A Panel of professionals will look into allegations that construction work on an apartment project in Taman Sutera Prima, Seberang Jaya, had caused cracks on several double-storey houses nearby.

Seberang Prai Municipal Council president Farizan Darus said the developer was slapped with a second stop-work order effective last Friday after the first order, issued in April, was lifted in May.

“We will station our enforcement officers at the project site. If there is any truth to the residents’ claim, the contractor has violated the second stop-work order,” he said after visiting the project site and affected houses on Monday evening.

He said the council would decide on the next course of action after the panel’s findings and recommenda-tions.

Getting to the root of the problem: Farizan (second left) at the site of the project.

Farizan said the panel comprised representatives from Malaysia Public Works Institute (Ikram), Cons-truction Industry Development Board Malaysia (CIDB), Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) and technical officers from the council.

On May 6, Taman Sutera Prima residents highlighted their fears to Deputy Chief Minister I Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin who instructed the relevant authorities to sort out the matter.

Taman Sutera Prima Residents Action Committee chairman Amirudeen Saidu Mohamed, 30, said cracks had appeared especially on 38 units in Lorong Sutera Prima 7 which were merely 12m away from the project site.

“We have been staying here for 18 months. The cracks started appearing when piling work on the project began last December.

“It has been four months since we complained to the relevant authorities, but the matter has yet to be resolved,” he said.

He said they wanted an assurance that their homes were safe to stay despite the cracks.

The project comprises a 38-storey and a 24-storey apartment block as well as a 10-storey car park block.

Seberang Jaya assemblyman Datuk Arif Shah Omar Shah said the developer must give due attention to the residents’ safety when carrying out construction work.

“Instead of hammering columns under the present spun piling method, the developer should switch to the bore piling method using drills when constructing the two other blocks later on.

“This may help reduce the impact on the nearby housing units,” he said.