Pairin orders Sabah PWD to probe Karamunsing complex

Michael Kaung

After a thorough discussion, the Sabah Cabinet wants the PWD to appoint an independent consultant for the project.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Cabinet has directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to appoint an independent consultant to do an assessment of the structural integrity of Karamunsing Complex.

Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the decision was made after a thorough discussion.
Pairin, who is also Infrastructure Development Minister, said the Cabinet decided to order PWD to appoint an independent consultant other than Jurutera Perunding W D Lee.

W D Lee is the consultant engineer approved by the management of Karamunsing Complex to carry out an investigation on the structural integrity of the building.

According to Pairin, the row over the safety of the Karamunsing Complex has received a lot of publicity, resulting in legal action being considered against City Hall and Suria Capital Holdings Bhd (SCHB).

“We have brought the issue for discussion by the Cabinet, and City Hall also briefed us on the matter.

“After analysing the information received, we took into consideration the advice of Infrastructure Development Ministry’s permanent secretary, Felix Madan.

“Felix said that the independent consultant must really be neutral so that it can carry out an assessment on the building without pressure from any parties,” he said, adding that it ws not appropriate for the proposed independent consultant to be paid by Crest Megaway Sdn Bhd as it has direct interest in the building.

“I believe that this could be the reason that Suria Capital did not agree to the appointment of WD Lee as the independent consultant,” Pairin said after the weekly state Cabinet meeting here yesterday.

Structural integrity

It was reported in January this year that affected owners of the seventh, eighth and ninth floors of Karamunsing Complex had complained to City Hall after three floors were found to be unsafe.

SCHB has since moved out of the complex as it was worried about the structural integrity of the building.
On Monday, Karamunsing Complex management said that a recent inspection had concluded that seventh, eighth and ninth floor of Block C Tower were structurally sound.

The management said that a report on the findings of the independant approved consultant engineer, WD Lee, on the structural integrity of the three floors had been submitted to City Hall.

“The consultant engineer had stated that based on its design check, field inspection and structural engineering knowledge, the seventh, eighth and ninth floors of Block C of Karamunsing Complex are in good structural condition,” the management said.

Spokesman for the 381 complex tenants and owners, Siau Yen Min, said the controversy arose as a result of a report in October 2010 which SCHB had submitted to City Hall.

City Hall blamed

The report was prepared by City Hall consultant engineers, Perunding Rekajasa.

Siau contended that Perunding Rekajasa had admitted that it arrived at its findings without having obtained and seen the engineering structural plans of the three floors.

“How could Perunding Rekajasa have concluded that the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors were structurally unsafe when it did not see the engineering structural plans…?

Siau also asked why did City Hall accept the final report when Perunding Rekajasa admitted that its finding was arrived at without seeing the engineering structural plans of the three floors.

“Why did City Hall not provide the engineering structural plans of the three floors to Perunding Rekajasa?

“Why didn’t City Hall insist that Perunding Rekajaa comes out with its findingt based on engineering structural plans, which is a crucial document to be referred to for any consultant engineers to arrive at its finding?”