Sometimes we are told that certain laws were passed to protect
public safety like the Building Control Act and regulations made
requiring Professional Engineers to certify structural elements as
safe with computations before granting permission for the
construction of the building.
Many condominiums were leaking through the external walls with
seepages into bedrooms and living rooms.
Complaints made to BCA often come to
naught because despite the laws being passed for safety and
maintenance purposes as stated by parliament, complaints were not
entertained by the BCA which appears to
regard such problems as problems of the residents who were
requested instead to engage their own PEs or consultants to prove
their case with inspection and testing resulting in many leaking
condos not being repaired causing more serious leakages and even
structural danger due to deteriorations.
At least one of the apartment blocks in Orchard Road was so
leaky in the external walls that despite so many past repairs the
external walls are still badly leaking wetting all the bedrooms and
living rooms during raining days.
The MCST used some excuses like presence
of inter-floor toilet floor seepages to deny responsibility for
repairing the external walls and BCA
conveniently pushed all complaints back to the residents by asking
them to engage their own consultants to prove their case against
the MCST’s opinion. What is the role of
MCST if it is not to represent residents to
solve problem over such external wall seepages? What is the purpose
of passing laws like Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act
if it is not to look after the maintenance of common property like
the seeping external walls of condominiums?
What is the purpose of passing laws of such nature for
protection of public or safety if at the slightest the BCA can push their duty away by taking the view that
residents have got to engage their own PEs to fight out their case
in court.
Is the original laws passed for public safety now still
seriously being administered by BCA?
Or is BCA also trying to avoid such duties
as stated in parliament and use every excuse to push back problems
to the weaker parties unable to engage expensive PEs leaving our
many buildings to rot.
If BCA adopts such an attitude what is the
purpose of passing these laws like Building Control Act or Building
Maintenance and Strata Management Act with all the responsibility
of MCST or BCA to be
taken over individually by residents themselves.