KUALA TERENGGANU, June 3 – Terengganu Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said has asked the Public Works Department (PWD) to check on new buildings in the state to avert a similar incident like the one at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium, near here, where part of the roof collapsed yesterday morning.
He said the PWD must conduct checks on buildings such as the Kuala Terengganu Municipal Council Swimming Complex in Batu Burok, Sultan Mahmud Airport (LTSM) and the Gong Badak Indoor Stadium to make sure that it was safe for use.
“In today’s meeting we also decided to have the PWD investigate other buildings as well as the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.
“We worry because these new buildings were recently completed,” he told reporters after chairing a weekly exco meeting, here today.
In the 9.30am incident yesterday, almost 60 per cent of the stadium’s roof collapsed. The stadium was officiated by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin on May 10 last year.
Commenting further, Ahmad said Terengganu was prone to strong monsoon winds and heavy rain which could cause undesired incidents on the structure of a building.
“We have decided that the Executive Councillor responsible should cooperate with the state PWD director on any development carried out in the state,” he said.
In a related development, he said the state government would appoint an independent consultant from abroad to investigate the cause of the collapse.
“A directive has been issued to the State Secretary (Datuk Mokhtar Nong) to select the consultant soon.
“This means we will have two independent consultants, one from the central government and another from the state government,” he said.
He hoped the consultants appointed would make the right decision because no building that was less than a year old had ever collapsed in the country.
“The incident (collapse of the stadium roof) is embarrassing. Let this be a lesson to us all,” he said. – Bernama
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