CIDB questions standard of raw materials
Published on: Sunday, February 26, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah's quest for a quake-resistant building code has left the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) questioning its implementation, especially the standard of raw materials. CIDB's Material Division Senior Manager Rosmen Hassan (pic) said there's a grey area behind Sabah's move for a code when the types of materials used are not of the prescribed standards set under the amended CIDB Act 520. The Act 520 now calls for builders to adhere to the standards set under Schedule 4 and the material is endorsed with the Certification of Standard Compliance (PPS).
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Those who flout the law could face fines of up to RM500,000. "During our roadshows to promote the amendments to Act 520, we have been informed by those in the industry and Customs here over the changes of raw materials. "For example, experts here have proposed the use of the deformed steel bars to Type C G500 instead of the Type A and B," he said during his presentation titled Regulating Construction Materials and Products on the second day of the Sabah Construction Fair 2017. Although the Type C steel bar is of a higher quality and more expensive, Rosmen questioned the code's implementation of using materials outside the prescribed standards.
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The amended CIDB Act was enforced on Dec 1, 2015, to expand the scope of the board from just looking into the areas of construction workers and levy, but standardise construction materials. Before the amendment, the construction industry was largely unregulated in terms of raw materials, giving an opportunity for contractors to use substandard materials.
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Recent disasters such as the collapse of the second Penang Bridge in 2015 and the RM100 million property damages caused by the Ranau earthquake in 2015 were among reasons why there was a need for Act 520 to be amended, said Rosmen. The amendments had paved a bigger role for CIDB to control the quality of construction materials used due to the use of the PPS certification. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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