Contractor and roof supplier face censure

KUALA TERENGGANU: The contractor and roof material supplier involved in the construction of the Kampung Tebauk mosque face blacklisting if found guilty of flouting rules.

Terengganu Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) director Ahmad Farrin Mokhtar said the board was waiting for the Public Works Department (JKR) forensic report on the mosque roof collapse before deciding on the next action.

“If JKR’s forensic report reveals that the contractor or the supplier did not adhere to specifications for the roof which collapsed, then we can take disciplinary action against both parties,” said Ahmad Farrin.

These include suspension, termination of their licences as well as blacklisting of the company from CIDB – which means they cannot be involved in future projects.

Ahmad Farrin said the severity of action would be decided by a disciplinary panel presided by senior CIDB officers.

Citing a similar incident which occurred five months ago, Ahmad Farrin said a director of the company that built the Kampung Binjai Kertas mosque – whose roof also collapsed – would be blacklisted.

This was because the JKR forensics report found that the contractor did not follow JKR’s specifications.

Ahmad Farrin said the director of the company would soon face disciplinary action.

He, however, said the company which was given the contract to build the Kampung Tebauk mosque had no bad record with CIDB prior to the mishap on Sunday.

The roof of the Kampung Tebauk mosques foyer collapsed early Sunday morning, affecting 20% of the mosque area.

Meanwhile, the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) in a statement said, the department was not in any way involved in the investigation into this case.

Its deputy director general Mokhtar Musri said the department enforced the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 which provides provisions for securing the safety, health and welfare of persons at work and for protecting others in connection with the activities of persons at work.

“In this case, the mosque is no longer under construction and is not a place of work and there is no persons working at the time of the collapse.

“Hence, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1994 does not apply and by extension it does not fall under the purview of DOSH,” he said.

On Sunday, state JKR director Datuk Shafii Mohamad said a forensics team from Kuala Lumpur would arrive here this week to inspect the collapse and determine the cause.

He added that there was a 10-year warranty period for the roof and since it was damaged before the period expired, the supplier would be held responsible and the contractor needed to rebuild the roof.