Best formula for CCC
The Sun 22/6/2005
SUBANG JAYA: The Ministry of Housing and Local Government announced
yesterday that it is working with various professional bodies to
come up with the best formula for the certification of completion of
construction (CCC) works or certificate of fitness (CF).
Its deputy minister Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew told
the Sun that the government would like to see the responsibility
passed on to the professionals for accountability purposes and to
ensure a system of check and balance.
Local councils are responsible for the issuing of
CFs to developers although the Cabinet had proposed that the
responsibility should rest with architects and engineers.
However, the Institute of Surveyors Malaysia (ISM)
recently proposed that it should be the professional body
responsible for the final decision before the CCC is issued. ISM's
president John Loh said yesterday the ISM is not in favor of
architects being made responsible for the issuance of the CCC
because they are involved in the construction process. Loh added
that ISM prefers a check and balance method to be present in the
system to ensure safety of the buildings constructed.
House Buyers Association secretary-general Chang
Kim Loong felt that all professional bodies should be consulted on
the issue of certification to be done by architects and engineers.
He said any new mechanism on the CCC should be in place before the
Ministry of Housing and Local Government makes a final decision on
the matter.
Meanwhile,Institute of Engineers Malaysia's
vice-president Tan Yean Chin said he does not see the implementation
of the new CCC system as going back to square one, as architects and
engineers have been playing active roles under the existing system.
"We do not believe that another level of checks
proposed by ISM would benefit or add value in protecting the public
interest. Instead, it would add to the cost for house buyers," said
Tan. Surveyors are not trained like engineers to build and design
buildings, he added.
Real Estate and Housing Developers Association
Malaysia's president Datuk Jeffrey Ng is all for the proposal for
only architects and engineers to be involved in issuing the CCC.
He said: "Being paid by the client does not make
architects and engineers unprofessional or lack independence as they
are guided by their own code of ethics. We do not see it as a
stumbling issue to use the services of architects and engineers".
Like Tan, Ng felt the professionalism of
architects and engineers should not be questioned and replaced by
another professional body such as the ISM. He added that there is no
guarantee that surveyors are equipped with the full technical
competence governing the building industry unlike architects, who
look at the entire spectrum of the industry.
At the opening of the 7th Surveyors' Congress, Lau
noted that in the UK and Australia, it is a common practice for
house buyers to engage building surveyors to and check and give the
property a clean by bill of health before purchase. He is said most
banks in these countries make it compulsory for those taking loans
to engage the services of surveyors.
"Building engineering also comes under the scope
of the work of building surveyors," Lau said. He also asked ISM to
consider including Fire and Rescue Department personnel under its
building surveyors division, as they are already involved in the
certification process. |
