PAM: Basement complies with by-laws
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysian Institute of Architects (PAM) Sabah Chapter has reviewed three documents that relate to ceiling height following the controversy over the One Jesselton Condominium project.
They are the KK Town Board Buildings By-laws 1951, MPKK and DBKK Guidelines on Building Plan Submission.
PAM noted in a statement on Friday that all three documents are silent on the basement ceiling height. However the Building By-laws 1951 also states that any building may only be erected with the Town Board’s written permission.
“We therefore of the opinion that One Jesselton basement is deemed compliant to the Building By-laws if its height is built according to the approved building plan,” PAM said in a statement on Friday.
PAM understand that the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) is in the process of adopting Uniform Building By-laws UBBL 2022 as the City Building By-laws.
“We wish to highlight that UBBL Clause 236 stipulated that any approval that is being issued before the enforcement of the UBBL shall remain in force i.e One Jesselton would be subjected to the previously approved building plan, even if DBKK had adopted the City Building Bylaws.”
DBKK has not issued occupancy certificate (OC) to the One Jesselton Condominium in Kepayan as the height of the car park failed to comply with requirement.
However, buyers are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after a meeting with the Local Government and Housing Ministry which stated it has no objection on issuance of OC for the project.
Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) president Datuk Chua Soon Ping has echoed the Ministry of Local Government and Housing Deputy Permanent Secretary Stanley Chong’s stance of no objection on issuance of OC.
Chua said DBKK cannot impose new conditions (i.e. ceiling height headroom of 2.3 metres) retrospectively for buildings which have been completed. In such cases, the 2.3 metres height headroom was never stated in the approved building plan. The Building By-Law only relate to the ground floor and not the lower ground floor (basement car park in this situation as there was no such structure space built in the 1950s).
He said that the approved building plan is three metres from floor to height which has been complied by the development.
“Furthermore, the Uniform Building By-Laws 2022 is not enforceable in DBKK jurisdiction as DBKK has never officially adopted it. Any mishap in such incidents in the future, the submitting person and professional consultants and developers, etc will be liable and responsible. Hopefully this matter will be concluded with amicable resolutions to end the pain of the buyers after such a long wait of nine years or more,” he added in a statement on Wednesday.
PAM also noted that the Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) and OSC were initiated during former prime minister Tun Abdullah Badawi’s tenure, when he instructed the relevant agencies to elevate Malaysian status in the World Bank’s ranking in Ease of Doing Business. CCC and OSC were subsequently implemented and significantly improved the building delivery process, and helped elevate Malaysia world ranking from 160 to 10.
PAM is of the opinion that CCC will help propel Sabah state economy and attract foreign and local investments.
PAM urges DBKK to adopt CCC as soon as possible. Shareda also urged DBKK to implement the CCC instead of OC immediately so that the industry can move forward.