PENANG: A five-storey walk-up block of flats in Bayan Baru has been declared unsafe for occupation after the building was found to have tilted more than one degree. 

The Penang Development Corporation (PDC) which issued the warning has advised the 180 residents to move out after receiving a report a few days ago from the Malaysian Public Works Institute (Ikram) which had been commissioned to carry out checks since 2003.  

PDC general manager Datuk Ahmad Fuad Ismail said the tremors caused by the recent powerful earthquake in North Sumatra had apparently aggravated the tilting that started a few years ago. 

He said cracks had appeared in Block H since 1989 but had never posed any structural problems. 

CHECK FOR CRACKS: Ahmad (right) and Pantai Jerejak assemblyman Wong Mun Hoe (centre) inspecting the crack at Block H of the flat in Lorong Mahsuri.

The building is no longer safe for occupation as it has structural defects induced by differential soil settlement. 

“We advise the residents to move out by the end of May. We will demolish this structure as soon as possible, and leave the area as an open space,'' he told a press conference yesterday. 

Of the 60 units in the block at Lorong Mahsuri, 10 which was built in 1981 on a former padi field, 26 are owner-occupied, 29 rented out and five are vacant. 

Five other blocks nearby are not affected. 

Ahmad Fuad told a press conference that the PDC started to engage Ikram to carry out checks on the building when the cracks further widened in 2003. 

“We urge the residents to move out soon so that we can demolish the building,” he said. 

An elevated highway project is being constructed next to the building along Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah. 

Last year, the highway project developer Sri Meraga Constructions Sdn Bhd changed the piling method from hammer piling to the more expensive bore piling to minimise the impact on the tilted block. 

Ahmad Fuad said the PDC had received complaints from residents that the nearby highway project and land settlement problems could be aggravating the situation. 

“We are not interested in finding faults. Our priority now is to move the people to safety. That is why we have offered to buy back the units,'' he said. 

Ahmad Fuad said PDC would buy up all the 60 units at RM100 per sq ft and provide the affected tenants six months rental to ease their burden.  

He said it would cost the PDC about RM4mil. 

State executive councillor Syed Amerrudin Syed Ahmad said the PDC had offered a five-option package to the affected residents.”They will be given priority to purchase low-cost units in Sungai Dua, Sungai Pinang, Sungai Ara or Sungai Nibong, or they can opt for a cash settlement. 

“The Sungai Dua and Sungai Pinang units are ready for occupation. But the units in Sungai Ara and Sungai Nibong would only be ready in two or three years.”