Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Developers Council (MDC) has proposed that the Government consider enacting new regulations, incorporating severe penalties, to deter would-be offenders from resorting to fraudulent certification of completed property in the country.

The council supports the Government’s pledge to work towards having real estate development project consultants - architects and engineers - to be responsible for issuing the certificate of fitness (CF).

The MDC hopes that the policy can be implemented as soon as possible, it said in a joint communique issued following the 3rd MDC meeting, here, Sunday.

“Even though the existing rules and regulations are tight enough, such a policy will further reduce red tape as well as shortening the length of time it usually takes for local authorities to issue such certificates,” the communique said.

The communique was signed by Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) Chairman Abu Bakar M.Yahya, Real Estate and Housing Developers Association Malaysia (Rehda) President Datuk Jeffrey Ng and Sarawak Housing Developers Association (SHDA) Chairman William Wei.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced recently the proposal to abolish the issuance of CF, known in Sabah as occupation certificate (OC), and instead rely on the declaration by professionals to certify the safety of a building and that it has been built based on specifications.

The MDC said the proposal would also help promote a higher level of professional accountability.

The communique also touched on three other issues - the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), Storm Water Management Manual as well as bank lending policy. The MDC called on the CIDB to step up its programmes to respond to the need of the industry “to ensure that the agency is able to justify the 0.125 per cent of contract sum it levies on developers”.

The CIDB should also have a long-term master plan on skilled labour planning and training because by upgrading their effectiveness, the board could help to address the Government’s concern over instances of poor workmanship of houses in the country.

On the Storm Water Management Manual, the communique said it has not been implemented effectively, causing numerous problems to developers.

“The Government is urged to re-examine the manual to ensure its practicality and train the relevant officers for the tasks of implementing it,” it said.

The MDC also urged the Government to relax conditions in the manual to require only developments of 50 acres (about 20.23 hectares) or more to adhere to the manual.

On the bank lending policy, the MDC said it shares Sabah developers’ dilemma arising from Bank Negara’s directive to restrict lending for commercial property, particularly shopping complexes nationwide.

“The restrictions, introduced in the wake of the financial crisis in 1997, should be reviewed in view of the recovering Malaysian economy.

Furthermore, the relevance of these restrictions to a state like Sabah is questionable because its property overhang situation is different from, for instance, that of the Klang Valley,” it said.

Hence, Bank Negara was urged to consider relaxing the lending restrictions on viable projects to developers in states like Sabah and Sarawak where “developers’ funding is more from the banks than, for example, the capital market”, it said.