14-day deadline for councils

The Star 10/01/2003

MALACCA: All local councils have been given two weeks to submit to the Housing and Local Government Ministry their survey findings on the status of buildings and houses without certificates of fitness (CFs), said its Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting. 

Ong said the survey would apply to buildings that had no CFs despite being completed for more than six months. 

He said the Cabinet decided on Wednesday that local councils should carry out their own surveys to assess the situation. 

This was to enable the Government to find a solution although the delay in issuing CFs could be due to various reasons, he added. 

“It could be the developers who have failed to comply with certain requirements or some other reasons, so this is not the fault of local councils as the public perceives all the time,” he told reporters after opening a three-day meeting attended by heads of local councils in the country at Golden Legacy Hotel here yesterday. 

Ong said local councils now had the autonomous power in issuing CFs.  

He said this meant that neither the ministry nor the state government would have any information on the matter. 

On the collection of assessment fees, Ong said the councils would have to find ways to improve collection of arrears. 

Last year, the collection of assessment fees was RM972.4mil or 80% of RM1.198bil. Only RM132.1mil or 27% of the arrears were collected, he said.