SCDF carries out another round of inspections at Mustafa
Centre
By Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid | Posted: 10 April 2010 2022 hrs
SINGAPORE: It's back to business as usual at Mustafa
Centre after a prohibition order that was issued on its premises
was lifted on Saturday morning.
But officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)
conducted another round of inspections on Saturday.
SCDF officers arrived at Mustafa Centre at 8am. That's when the
court order imposed on the 24-hour shopping complex was
lifted.
It was ordered to stop all retail activity on level one of its main
building from 4pm on Thursday after the SCDF raised concerns about
overcrowding.
And as staff got back to their routine, further inspections were
carried out for less than half an hour.
The officers declined to give comments.
But with this handshake, it seemed they were satisfied with efforts
to address the safety issue.
Shamim Ahmad, manager, Building Maintenance & Safety, Mustafa
Centre, said: “We have widened some of these spaces and we have
shown them and we have tendered some actions plans to them and they
are very satisfied and we look forward to work with them.
“I have employed some extra people to control the overcrowding. I
hope this will work.”
The management of Mustafa Centre was not able to disclose or give a
rough estimate of the losses suffered during the 40-hour closure of
its first floor.
But it said it will continue to step up on crowd control measures
to ensure a better shopping experience for customers.
But are customers themselves, seeing any difference now?
One customer said: “Now I find it more spacious to walk the
passageway and we feel more safe.”
The shopping centre will still make use of this monitoring system
to keep track of the number of people in the premises.
Staff will also do a manual head count every 15 minutes during peak
periods.
The management said shoppers may be denied entry once there are
about 380 people on the first floor.
There are also plans to make better use of a bigger shop space in
the future.
Norrdin Mustaffa, business development manager, Mustafa Centre,
said: “We are going to remove certain departments to extend our
merchandise to a new outlet.”
The new extension is expected to be completed in August.
In the meantime, SCDF will continue to monitor the situation at the
premises. - CNA/vm