Why excuse BCD/HDB & pass structural problems to flatowners?

• robertteh

  29 Jun 07, 14:42

  If there is a BCD set up to look after structural safety regulations, with officers paid as much as S$15,000.00 pm, why not our minister in charge make use of his talents and oversee him to do his works well to improve safety.
  
  There are now many unanswered questions arising from increasing incidents of structural problems at HDB flats why despite all the revised structural safety regulations after Hotel New World, there are still so many serious similar lapses of duties and responsibilities to oversee structural safety at various new building constructions.
  
  Will the citizens end up having all kinds of laws passed to transfer HDB/LTA's own structural safety problems due to negligence by BCD officers like the dropping windows or structural failures to them.
• robertteh

  29 Jun 07, 19:33

  countdowntogst wrote:
  Hotel new world is because remove of piller without approve.
  
  Get your facts right. That time hotel new world. You born already or not ?

  Don't get fooled by newspaper sensationalism. There was no removal of any structural columns. A group of RC piles were badly out of alignment with the pile cap as testified by the expert who was nevertheless overruled on one of the commissioners of inquiry. As a result of this structurally defective pile cap the columns were obviously unable to carry the extra load posed by the additional water tanks, OTTV claddings, safes and all.
  
  The above-stated fact was not revealed to the public. I invite anyone to study again the photographs of non-aligned piles and pile caps as printed in the report of the COI and he would know better why the structural checking was ever so important and not to be delegated to LTA, HDB or any contractors, safety officers or subcontractors who will definitely push away all such responsibilities to god knows who.
  
  If our million-dollar ministers cannot oversee his relevant departments like the BCD there would be a lot of shirking and excuses as seen in the Nicol Highway collapse inquiry where BCD definitely failed to implement the structural checking introduced after the Hotel New World collapse and sadly the prior-collapse suicide of site engineer was not even looked into.