Certification of Houses should be left to the professionals.

Much has been written about the decision by the
Works minister S Samy Vellu that architects and
Engineers will soon be responsible for the issuance of
certificate of Fitness (C.F).I take particular umbrage
at the comments of S.M Mohamad Idris of the
consumers'Association of Penang regarding his
objection to the proposal of allowing architects and
Engineers to issue the C.F.
Mohamad Idris would be well advised to confine
his comments to matters that he is familiar with and
not to adopt arm chair critic of matters that he has
very little knowledge of.
Since the beginning of our housing industry the
issuance of the C.F have been with the authority of
the local councils after having obtain approvals from
about a dozen govt bodies.Most if not all of the local
councils are manned by ordinary civil servants whose
knowledge and expertise in the building industry is
virtually nil.Despite this lack of expertise the law
till now demands that we obtain certification from
these authorities whose speed of approvals depends on
the quantum of money changing hands.With the need to
obtain approvals from a dozen of these govt bodies
imagine the bureacratic delay that a developer has to
endure.This result in an inordinate delay in the
issuance of the C.F sometimes stretching over a period
of years if no money change hands.
With the introduction of responsibilty of issuance
of C.F to architects and Engineers there is every
reason to believe that due care and diligence would be
exercise on compliance with specifications and
workmanship.It is very unlikely that these
professionals would risk their rice bowl by
compromising on quality and shoddy workmanship.At the
end of the day the responsibilty of issuing C.F comes
with an attached responsibilty of being liable to any
litigation that may arise as a result of their
certification.
From the inception of the Housing Act, we have
relied on the local authorities to issue the
certificate of Fitness.This has resulted in
bureacratic delay, corruption and abandonment of
housing project.The time has come for us to move
forward and experiment with a new method of
certification.It would be a great disservice to the
housing industry if critics like Mohamad Idris put a
nail to the coffin of this new proposal even before it
is implemented.