‘Make geological reports mandatory’

22/11/2002 The Star

PETALING JAYA: Two consumer groups want the Government to make it mandatory for developers to furnish a geological report before approving new housing projects.

The National House Buyers Association (HBA) and the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) believe the Taman Hillview tragedy on Wednesday could have been prevented if their call for a mandatory geological report was implemented after the 1993 collapse of the Highland Towers.

Fomca president Datuk Hamdan Adnan said nine years ago, they had called for an urgent review of building policies and insisted that soil engineers and geologists furnished reports on the impact that housing projects would have on an area.

“But important lessons are still not learnt. So many buildings are still unregulated and the local authorities do not have the expertise to conduct vital soil tests,” he said yesterday.

According to HBA secretary-general Chang Kim Loong, developers only needed to get their building plans approved by the local authorities before starting construction work.

He added that a soil test was not compulsory and developers were not duty-bound to study the soil condition.

Chang said geological studies and soil tests would determine the suitability of a site, as a report would include a study on the soil content, the existence of underground streams and the durability of the housing project.