BEM Dec07-Feb08 (Pro.. - Board of Engineers Malaysia

LEMBAGA JURUTERA MALAYSIA 

BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA 

KDN PP11720/1/2008 ISSN 0128-4347 VOL.36 DEC 2007 - FEB 2008 RM10.00 

Project 

Financing

2 THE INGENIEUR 

Volume 36 Dec 2007 - Feb 2008 

8 

42 

56 

64 

c o n t e n t s 

4 President’s Message 

Editor’s Note 

Announcement 

5 Publication Calender 

Cover Feature 

6 Private Finance Initiatives – Infrastructure And 

Utilities Development 

12 Incorporating Facilities Management In PFI Proposals 

22 Professional Services Export Fund 

Update 

24 Situations Under Which Internal Plumbing Plan 

Approval Can Be Given Though External Plan Not 

Approved Yet 

Engineering & Law 

25 The SCL Delay And Disruption Protocol: An Overview 

Feature 

33 Building And Common Property Act 2007 

41 Profile - The Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators 

42 Dispute On Arbitrators, Advertising And Ethics 

44 Structural Inspection Of Existing Bridges 

48 Strata Titles (Amendment) Act 2007 

54 An Overview Of The Use Of Explosives For 

The Demolition Of Building Structures 

60 Disabled People As Stakeholders In A Barrier-Free 

Built Environment 

Engineering Nostalgia 

64 Kuala Lumpur – Major Flood In January 1971 

2008 Registration Renewal Notice 

Every registered Professional Engineer and Engineering 

Consultancy practice shall renew their Registration for year 2008. 

Please visit www.bem.org.my to download the Renewal Forms.

4 THE INGENIEUR 

KDN PP11720/1/2008 

ISSN 0128-4347 

Vol. 36 Dec 2007- Feb 2008 

MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA 

(BEM) 2007/2008 

President 

YBhg. Dato’ Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Judin Abdul Karim 

Registrar 

Ir. Dr. Mohd Johari Md. Arif 

Secretary 

Ir. Ruslan Abdul Aziz 

Members 

YBhg. Tan Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Zulkifli Tan Sri Mohd Ghazali 

YBhg. Datuk Ir. Hj. Keizrul Abdullah 

YBhg. Lt. Gen. Dato’ Ir. Ismail Samion 

YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Ashok Kumar Sharma 

YBhg. Datuk (Dr.) Ir. Abdul Rahim Hj. Hashim 

YBhg. Datu Ir. Hubert Thian Chong Hui 

YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Prof. Chuah Hean Teik 

Ar. Dr. Amer Hamzah Mohd Yunus 

Ir. Henry E Chelvanayagam 

Ir. Dr. Shamsuddin Ab Latif 

Ir. Prof. Dr. Ruslan Hassan 

Ir. Mohd. Rousdin Hassan 

Ir. Tan Yean Chin 

Jaafar Bin Shahidan 

Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman 

Ir. Anjin Hj. Ajik 

Ir. P E Chong 

EDITORIAL BOARD 

Advisor 

YBhg. Dato’ Sri Prof. Ir. Dr. Judin Abdul Karim 

Chairman 

Ir. Tan Yean Chin 

Editor 

Ir. Fong Tian Yong 

Members 

Ir. Prem Kumar 

Ir. Mustaza Salim 

Ir. Chan Boon Teik 

Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman 

Ir. Prof. Dr. K. S. Kannan 

Ir. Prof. Madya Dr. Eric K H Goh 

Ir. Rocky Wong Hon Thang 

Executive Director 

Ir. Ashari Mohd Yakub 

Publication Officer 

Pn. Nik Kamaliah Nik Abdul Rahman 

Assistant Publication Officer 

Pn. Che Asiah Mohamad Ali 

Design and Production 

Inforeach Communications Sdn Bhd 

Printer 

Art Printing Works Sdn Bhd 

29 Jalan Riong, 59100 Kuala Lumpur 

The Ingenieur is published by the Board of Engineers Malaysia 

(Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia) and is distributed free of charge to 

registered Professional Engineers. 

The statements and opinions expressed in this 

publication are those of the writers. 

BEM invites all registered engineers to contribute articles or 

send their views and comments to 

the following address: 

Publication Committee 

Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia, 

Tingkat 17, Ibu Pejabat JKR, 

Jalan Sultan Salahuddin, 

50580 Kuala Lumpur. 

Tel: 03-2698 0590 Fax: 03-2692 5017 

E-mail: bem1@streamyx.com; publication@bem.org.my 

Website: http://www.bem.org.my 

Advertising/Subscriptions 

Subscription Form is on page 58 

Advertisement Form is on page 59 

Malaysia enjoys an early start on Private 

Finance Initiatives (PFIs) since the introduction 

of privatisation projects back in 1983. Most of 

the early PFIs were in economic infrastructure 

projects such as highways, independent power 

supply and water supply, together with a 

few social infrastructure projects. With the 

global trend of using PFIs, Malaysians should 

capitalise on their expertise to venture beyond our shores for 

mega projects in the international market. 

It is estimated that East Asia alone requires some US$200 

billion annually over the next five years for infrastructure projects, 

and many of them require some form of financing. The scope 

for engineers in these areas can be wide and bright. Since PFI 

ties the concessionaire to the life cycle cost of the projects, 

unlike conventional contracts, the facility managers who are 

mainly M&E engineers will assume an important role to meet 

the KPIs and the bankability of PFI projects. 

With more mega projects in the pipeline that may involve 

PFIs, engineers as part of the concessionaire support team should 

have sound knowledge of the mechanisms of PFI. As Malaysia 

positions herself in the international scene for trade, industry 

and tourism, the challenges facing the nation in coping with 

expanding infrastructures and facilities of world class standard 

will be opportunities for our engineers. However, these are only 

for those who excel technically and managerially. 

Dato’ Sri Prof Ir Dr Judin bin Abdul Karim 

President 

BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA 

BEM’s Publication Committee welcomes on board 

the new Committee chairman, Ir Tan Yean Chin and 

his new team members. 

The year 2007 witnessed some exciting events 

that have impacted practising engineers such as 

the introduction of CCC, OSC, the announcement 

of economic corridors, revival of double tracking projects and 

so on. Along with these new delivery systems and projects 

announcement, projects financing has taken another cornerstone 

with the introduction of Private Finance Initiatives (PFI). 

This issue with the theme PFI attempts to provide a clearer 

insight into the mechanism of project financing as engineers can 

no longer limit themselves to technical matters in this globalised 

market. 

In view of the impending Act on Disabled Persons that 

was recently tabled in the Parliament, an article on Barrier-Free 

Environment was introduced as a reminder to professionals on 

design considerations for the disabled. 

To all readers, I wish you a Happy New Year. 

Ir Fong Tian Yong 

Editor 

President’s Message 

Editor’s Note

THE INGENIEUR ANNOUNCEMENT 

The following list is the Publication 

Calendar for the year 2007 

- 2008. While we normally seek 

contributions from experts for 

each special theme, we are also 

pleased to accept articles relevant 

to themes listed. 

Please contact the Editor or the 

Publication Officer in advance 

if you would like to make such 

contributions or to discuss details 

and deadlines. 

March 2008: POWER 

June 2008: ASSET MANAGEMENT 

September 2008: ENGINEERING 

PRACTISE 

December 2008: ENvIRoNMENT 

The Board of Engineers 

Malaysia 

wishes all readers 

Happy 

New Year 

2008 

& 

Gong Xi 

Fa Cai 

5

6 COVER FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Private Finance Initiatives – 

Infrastructure And 

Utilities Development 

By Lee Yuien Siang, Associate Director, Corporate Finance Practice, 

PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia 

Pipe laying 

Ajoint Asian Development 

Bank, Japan Bank for 

International Co-operation 

and World Bank estimate is that 

East Asia alone has infrastructure 

needs totalling US$200 billion 

a year over the next five years. 

A r o u n d t w o - t h i r d s o f t h i s 

expenditure needs to be new 

investment, with the balance on 

upkeep of existing assets. 

Internationally, including 

Malaysia, various forms of 

public private partnerships have 

been applied to attract private 

sector capital and expertise in 

developing infrastructure assets 

and services. Many construction 

companies in selected markets 

where infrastructure forms a 

sizeable part of public sector 

procurement have specialised 

in developing then selling 

investment stakes and retaining 

long-term maintenance contracts. 

Industry players at all levels can 

be involved, from the biggest 

Bridge under construction 

companies heading consortia to 

small, local sub-contractors. 

In Malaysia, following the 

Government’s announcement 

of the Private Finance Initiative 

(‘PFI’) in the Ninth Malaysia 

Plan, a lot of discussions have 

centred around the investment 

and financing aspects of PFI. For 

the engineering fraternity, what 

will PFI mean to them? 

The PFI Concept 

Similar to many existing 

privatisation projects, PFI involves 

the public sector contracting with 

the private sector to undertake 

the designing, building, financing 

and maintenance of certain 

infrastructure over the concession 

period which typically lasts 

between 25 and 30 years. The 

key differentiating feature of PFI is 

the public sector typically retains 

responsibility over public services 

delivery – customer interface 

function with the public. The 

public sector also makes service 

payments for the infrastructure 

a n d p r e d e f i n e d a s s o c i a t e d 

services to the private sector 

over the life of the concession. 

PricewaterhouseCoopers’s report 

on ‘Delivering the PPP Promise’ 

describes the other feature of PFI 

being that “the private sector 

returns are linked to service 

outcomes and performance 

of the asset over the contract 

life. The private sector service 

provider is responsible not 

just for asset delivery, but for 

overall project management and 

implementation, and successful 

operation for several years 

thereafter.” 

M a ny c o u n t r i e s i n i t i a l l y 

develop PFI in the transport 

sector and later extend their 

use to other sectors, such as 

education, health, energy, water 

and waste treatment, once the 

value for money benefits are

THE INGENIEUR COVER FEATURE 

proven and public sector expertise 

is established. Sectors where PFI 

may be applicable include: 

• Central Accommodation 

• Airports 

• Defence 

• Housing 

• Health & Hospitals 

• IT 

• Ports 

• Prisons 

• Heavy Railway 

• Light Railway 

• Roads 

• Schools 

• Sports & Leisure 

• Water, Wastewater & Solid 

Waste 

So far, known PFI projects 

in Malaysia have been limited 

to those undertaken by PFI 

Sdn Bhd, a Ministry of Finance 

company. The arrangement is 

different from the international 

PFI framework with limited real 

risk transfer to the private sector 

since both counter parties to the 

contract are Government entities. 

Here, the private sector only acts 

as construction and maintenance 

contractors. 

Under PFI, the public sector 

transfers the design, construction 

and operating risks to the 

private sector. In contrast 

with traditional Government 

procurement, the public sector 

does not bear the cost of cost 

overruns. The public sector 

also entrusts the concession 

company with the operation and 

maintenance of the infrastructure 

such as schools and hospitals. 

The public sector can then 

focus on delivering their core 

services of education and 

healthcare. PFI is also not a 

deferred payment arrangement 

which in the conventional sense 

means staggered payments for 

assets. Under PFI, payments 

are made only when facilities 

are available and services are 

delivered satisfactorily. 

Delivering Better Value 

for Money 

Value for money is increasingly 

at the centre of the PFI proposition, 

a shift from the earlier days when 

it was used mainly to source 

private sector financing and to 

reduce public sector spending. 

Better value for money is driven 

mainly by the design of the 

concession and the payment 

mechanisms. 

To undertake the concession, 

the concession company – a 

special purpose vehicle, is 

established to create a single point 

of accountability from the private 

sector. This effectively erases 

any dispute which commonly 

arises in a project - whether it 

is the designer, the construction 

contractor or the maintenance 

contractor who will be responsible 

for the defect. The single entity will 

be solely accountable, allowing 

the Government to quickly seek 

rectification and remedy without 

having to first determine the 

cause of the defect. 

The concession company 

will receive performance-linked 

payments for services rendered. 

Payments may be withheld or 

deducted if the assets were not 

available or service performances 

7


THE INGENIEUR 

Dam infrastructure 

are not up to pre-agreed service 

levels. The purpose of this 

mechanism is to incentivised 

the private sector to take full 

responsibility over the assets 

and services from the design, 

construction, maintenance through 

to the provision of services. 

Under PFI, the public sector 

will define the specifications 

of the infrastructure based on 

outcome (output specifications) 

rather than input specifications. 

Designers will therefore have to 

ensure that the facilities are fit 

for purpose in terms of space 

planning, configuration, aesthetic, 

ambiance, comfort, etc. This 

allows flexibility and room for the 

private sector to provide innovative 

solutions. 

As the concession company 

is solely responsible for the 

assets and services over the 

concession period – typically 25 

to 30 years, it will incorporate 

a design and construction that 

will be cost effective to operate 

and maintain (and refurbish or 

upgrade as necessary). In other 

words, this concept of whole-life 

costing optimisation will have to 

take into account the needs of 

operators including the cost and 

ease of maintenance during the 

design and construction phase. 

For conventionally procurement 

facilities, the design of the facilities 

may not have provided for cost 

effective facility management. 

This is a critical concern since the 

lifetime operating and maintenance 

costs can be three to four times 

the capital costs of the assets. 

The Argument for PFI 

Is there a burning platform 

for PFI in Malaysia? Various 

economic and social sectors 

compete for funds to create, 

expand and enhance infrastructure 

and services vital to the public’s 

wellbeing and the country’s 

competitiveness, particularly in


education, healthcare and the 

environment. PFI provides an 

option to expedite development 

projects and set a framework for 

quality asset lifecycle management 

as we do have a distance to 

go to attain developed nation 

status 

PFI provides for an effective 

transfer of design, construction 

and operational risks which 

could help avoid defects and 

accountability issues similar to 

those highlighted concerning the 

MRR2 flyover, the Kuala Lumpur 

Court Complex and certain 

Federal Government buildings in 

Putrajaya. 

Challenges for Designers 

and Builders 

While the roles of designers 

and builders are not different 

compared to the traditional 

design and build contract, 

those involved in PFI projects 

faces more challenges as the 

concession company’s profits 

are “at risk” throughout the 

concession period. 

The winning bid will have 

to be both innovative and cost 

effective. Designers and builders 

should adopt proven technology 

and construction methods and 

ensure that construction is well 

executed as the costs of delays 

and cost overruns will be borne 

by them. Materials used should 

be durable and easy to maintain. 

Energy and utilities management 

is fundamental to control the 

running costs while ensuring 

the assets can function properly. 

Space and configuration planning 

needs to be well thought through 

to ensure operations can be 

efficiently carried out in addition 

to contributing to the comfort and 

safety of occupants. Asset and 

lifecycle management is critical 

to ensure that physical assets 

are continuously monitored, 

maintained and replaced to 

m a x i m i s e t h e i r u t i l i s a t i o n 

and minimise disruption to 

operations. 

While PFI projects can be 

a very important source of 

construction and investment 

income for many constructors, 

they can also be risky. Managing 

the risks requires pooling of 

resources and expertise which 

commonly requires consortia 

a r r a n g e m e n t s m a d e u p o f 

c o m p a n i e s s p e c i a l i s i n g i n 

construction and construction 

management, hard and soft 

facilities management and strong 

financial investors. Such an 

approach could be very relevant 

in developing the Malaysian 

market. 

PFI is not and should not 

be the solution to all the issues 

we face in procuring public 

facilities. It is only as good as 

the value for money assessment, 

the capabilities of the concession 

company, and the structuring, 

management and enforcement of 

the PFI contract. BEM 

9


THE INGENIEUR 

Incorporating Facilities 

Management In PFI Proposals 

Ir. Dr. Zuhairi Abd. Hamid, Construction Research Institute of Malaysia (CREAM), 

Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia 

Facilities Management (FM) is an important component in any Private Finance Initiatives 

(PFI). FM in Malaysia is relatively new and gradually gaining recognition. This paper 

highlights the roles of FM in PFI context, whole life cycle costing and its relevancy in 

the entire construction value chain. Incorporating FM in PFI proposals in the Malaysian 

environment should consider models and lessons learned from other country such as 

the UK and American perspectives and modified to suit local needs. It is also the 

intention of this paper to assist client, developer, contractor and financier to better 

understand the concept of PFI as well as FM when planning both strategies. 

A 

s t a t e m e n t b y t h e 

Deputy Prime Minister 

of Malaysia (now Prime 

Minister) who said : “Unless 

Malaysians change their mentality 

to become more aware of the 

need to provide good services 

and improve the upkeep of 

buildings, we will forever be a 

Third World country with First 

World infrastructure” (Badawi, 

2001) has stressed the importance 

of FM in the Malaysia context. 

Many researchers emphasis 

FM as a support function (UCL, 

1993; Alexander 1996) to the 

organisation, but its role in the 

maintenance of building facilities 

and in property management 

are also critical and demanding 

(Sarshar, 2000; Underwood and 

Alshawi, 2000; Barrett, 1995). 

FM represents a field of activity 

beyond the design, procurement 

and furnishing of buildings, 

that continues into the realm 

of management skills associated 

with the use of a facility, 

and how that facility evolves 

and develops in response to 

the changing demands of the 

occupier (Park, 1998). Others 

(Nutt, 2002; Tay and Ooi, 2001) 

have taken the definition further 

by expanding the scope of FM 

to cover the entire property 

life-cycle of designing, building, 

financing and operating (Connors, 

2003). 

Concept behind PFI 

PFI projects differ from 

traditionally procured public 

Feature PFI Conventional 

Procurement 

Design Public sector client specifies 

output required and private 

sector consortium provides 

design to satisfy requirement 

Finance Capital provided by private 

sector consortium in return 

for a unitary payment from 

the public sector client 

Construction Construction undertaken by 

private sector consortium 

Operation and 

maintenance 

Infrastructure operated and 

maintained by private sector 

consortium 

Services Services provided by public 

sector client and/or private 

sector consortium 

Ownership Ownership reverts to public 

sector client or is retained by 

private sector consortium 

sector projects in a number of 

ways (See Table 1). In a PFI 

project the public sector client 

specifies the outcomes required 

Table 1 Comparison of PFI with conventional public sector procurement 

Public sector client 

specifies design in 

conjunction with 

external professional 

advisors 

Capital provided by 

Exchequer 

Construction put out 

to competitive tender 

to private sector 

contractor 

Operation and 

maintenance by public 

sector client or put 

out to competitive 

tender to private sector 

contractor 

Services provided by 

public sector client or 

put out to competitive 

tender to private sector 

contractor 

Infra structure owned 

by public sector client 

(Dixon et. al,. 2003)

THE INGENIEUR COVER FEATURE 13 

Financiers 

and a private sector consortium 

designs, constructs, finances 

and operates the infrastructure 

necessary to deliver the outcomes. 

It may also deliver services direct 

to the public as part of the 

project (Allen, 2001). 

The public sector does not 

own the infrastructure but pays 

the private sector consortium 

a stream of unitary payments 

to use the infrastructure and 

services over the contract period, 

normally in the region of 25-30 

years. At the end of this period 

ownership of the infrastructure 

either remains with the private 

sector consortium or reverts 

to the public sector client, 

depending on the terms of the 

contract (Allen, 2001) 

PFI projects typically comprise 

three main parties (See Figure 

1). The public sector client, 

referred to as the awarding 

authority, is usually a Government 

department, local authority or 

other Government agency. The 

project company is a special 

purpose vehicle (SPV) set up 

Awarding Authority 

Project company 

Construction company Consortium 

FM provider 

Sub-contractor(s) 

Investors 

Figure 1 Typical PFI project structure (Dixon et. al,. 2003) 

by a consortium of companies 

prepared to assume responsibility 

for providing infrastructure and 

services to the awarding authority. 

Consortia typically consist of 

construction companies, facility 

management (FM) providers and 

investors. The primary objective 

of the project company is to 

make profit by minimizing costs 

and managing risk throughout 

the duration of the contract. The 

project company may subcontract 

responsibility for aspects of the 

project to third parties (Dixon 

et. al, 2003). There are three 

main sources of finance for PFI 

projects: 

● Equity funding from institutional 

investors, 

● Bank loans; and 

● Bond issues (Fox and Tott, 

1999) 

The overriding objective of the 

financiers is to maximize returns 

from their investment by limiting 

the project company’s exposure to 

risk throughout the project. 

Sub-contractor(s) 

Private Finance Initiative 

(PFI) and Private-Public 

Partnerships (PPPs) 

In 1992, the UK Conservative 

Government introduced the PFI as 

a means of attracting private sector 

investment into public assets 

and services (The International 

Finance Association, 2002). The 

advantages of PFI/PPPs have been 

the introduction of private sector 

capital and disciplines into the 

provision of Government services 

which have made it possible 

for a larger number of projects 

to be built, than would have 

otherwise been possible without 

private sector involvement (The 

International Finance Association, 

2002). There are no countries 

in the world that can undertake 

infrastructure projects of large 

size with their current budgets, 

so PFI and PPP are the only real 

ways forward (Lenard, 2004). 

One of the assumed benefits 

of PFI is that it results in lower 

design, construction and operating 

costs than conventional public


THE INGENIEUR 

sector procurement (Stewart and 

Butler, 1996). Research suggests 

that projects under PFI tend to be 

delivered on time and to budget 

(Dixon et. al, 2003). A survey 

of 67 PFI projects by (Ive et al. 

2000) found average total cost 

savings (comprising design, other 

fees, construction, FM and other 

operating costs) of between 5% 

and 10% over conventional public 

sector procurement (estimated cost 

savings in relation to public sector 

comparators or benchmarks used in 

the procurement of the project). 

The public sector is now placing 

an increasing reliance on PFI to 

deliver better public services (Harris, 

2003). The business relationship 

between clients and contractors 

is changing with the contractor’s 

role extending from delivering 

facilities to delivering complete 

business to clients (Hassan et. al., 

2002). Examining the UK practice 

in respect of the PFI, it can be seen 

that there has been an extension 

of design and build to include 

the maintenance and operation 

of services, and later transfer of 

the project back to the client 

after 25 to 35 years depending 

on the concessionaire’s agreement 

(Lafford et.al, 2000). 

Key Players: 

• Owner/Developer 

• Architect 

• Engineer 

• Quantity Surveyor 

• Project Manager 

• Regulatory Body 

• Contractor 

Research shows that FM is 

rarely involved as an integral part 

of the design process, with the 

possible exception of PFI (Brown, 

2002). The UK Government’s 

introduction of PFI has brought 

together all the key players 

in construction, including FM, 

under one management team, 

which means that fragmentation 

issues and lack of communication 

b e t w e e n t h e c o n s t r u c t i o n 

stakeholders should be improved. 

In PFI, all the key players are 

managed by one consortium with 

the directive coming straight from 

the owner. 

The FM input is therefore seen 

as ‘adding value’ to the overall 

PFI design of both the built and 

service products. This situation 

has allowed for a much-needed 

change in comparison with the 

traditional construction approach. 

By introducing engineering best 

value and longevity into the final 

design solution, the PFI consortia 

which comprises designer, builder 

and operator will ensure that 

operational performance is 

delivered (Baldwin, 2003). 

C o n f l i c t s b e t w e e n k e y 

construction players could be 

resolved more efficiently internally. 


• Architect 

• Engineer 



• Main Contractor 

• Architect 

• Engineer 




• Sub-contractor 

• Construction site 

staff 

• Construction worker 

• Government 

Agencies and 

Regulatory Bodies 

This is not the case in traditional 

procurement where many parties 

and key players are involved, 

as shown in Figure 2. In this 

situation, when any disputes and 

conflicts arise, the solution has 

to be considered as an individual 

case at different stages of the 

construction process where it 

actually occurs, and this practice 

results in project delays and late 

occupancy by the owner. 

Lesson Learned from PFI 

Practice in the UK 

It is crucial to learn from 

UK’s or any other country’s 

experienced before Malaysia 

embarks to implement PFI. The 

author has highlighted some of 

the points gathered by Dixon et. 

al (2003) to be considered and 

studied. 

● Procurement and transaction 

costs 

High performance costs are 

a feature of PFI, but should fall 

as market mature and greater 

standardization is achieved in 

processes and documentation. 

However, the perception of high 

initial costs also results from 


• Architect 

• Engineer 




• Management 

corporation 

• Government 

Agencies and 

Regulatory Bodies 

• Consumer 

Design Tender Construction Facilities 

Management 

Figure 2 Key Players in the Construction Value Chain


failures to evaluate costs against 

benefits for the whole life of 

these very long contracts, often 

between 20 and 30 years, and 

from failure to compare costs with 

traditional procurement or leasing 

(Dixon et. al, 2003). 

● Risk transfer evaluation 

In PFI difficulties valuing risk 

transfer have resulted in delayed 

take-up and criticisms that the 

true costs of PFI is disguised by 

over-generous assumptions about 

risk transfer together with discount 

rates that are too high. Improved 

techniques are therefore needed 

for valuing risk transfer over the 

whole life of PFI contracts. Whole 

life costing techniques are not 

well developed and it remains to 

be seen if PFI can provide the 

spur to improvement (Dixon et. 

al, 2003). 

● Innovation 

PFI is an innovative approach 

to outsourcing, but, despite 

delivering benefits, it is being 

criticized as lack of innovation 

in specific key areas. PFI has 

failed to meet public sector 

expectations for innovation in 

building design and sustainability. 

It is worth to examine the 

potential for innovation to meet 

these expectations (Dixon et. al, 

2003). 

● Size of contracts 

In PFI the large scale and 

complexity of contracts act 

as barriers to market entry by 

private sector providers and 

reduce market competitiveness. 

The market should therefore 

benefit from measures to adapt 

PFI structure to smaller contracts 

suited to SMEs and possibly local 

authorities (Dixon et. al, 2003). 

● Skills 

Difficulties with retaining and 

recycling project management 

skills in the public sector are 

posing a threat to the future 

success of PFI. Developing and 

retaining skills are important to 

enable organisations to act as 

informed clients for PFI (Dixon 

et. al, 2003). 

The Project Life-cycle 

Approach 

The project life-cycle approach 

has shown FM activities to be 

critical. It is common to hear 

that building information has 

not been passed efficiently from 

consultant and contractor back 

to the client during the handing 

over of a construction project. 

The organisation is seen to have 

two separate sets of information 

- one before and the other after 

the completion of construction. 

O n e t e a m i s r e s p o n s i b l e 

during planning, design and 

construction and another team 

will be introduced to take over 

the operation of the building 

once construction is completed. 

Unfortunately, the document to 

be submitted with the as-built 

drawing during the handing 

over of a completed project is 

not always defined clearly in 

the bill of quantities, and it is 

frequently reported by the client 

that information received about 

building components needs to 

be redone and updated. This has 

resulted in user requirements not 

being met and has caused delays 

Actual whole life cost percentage 

40% 

35% 

30% 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

0% 

run/maintain 38% 

repair 20% 

period replacement 10% 

and rework to reproduce the 

information which was available 

earlier and could have been 

done in advance if the clear 

requirement to do so had been 

in the contract specification and 

the bill of quantities. 

Major functions in FM like 

maintenance and operation have 

often been ignored in the project 

life-cycle costing resulting in 

buildings that are too expensive 

to maintain. Horvath (1999), 

Sarshar (2000), and Underwood 

and Alshawi (2000) have proposed 

that a project infrastructure 

should be properly viewed from 

a life-cycle perspective. In this 

respect, lack of information 

and co-operation among the 

parties, especially between the 

contractor and the designer at 

the design stage, are the major 

contributors to the problem 

of maintenance (Underwood 

and Alshawi, 2000). This has 

resulted in cost over-run and 

poor organisational performance 

(Teicholz, 2004). In many cases, 

operation, maintenance and 

end-of-life environmental costs 

of facilities have contributed 

to 85% of costs occurring after 

construction, by outweighing all 

initial costs (Scarponcini, 1996). 

A study by Teicholz (2004) also 

suggested that the design and 

risk reserve 8% 

disposal 2% 

design 4% 

Benchmarking cost of total ownership 

Figure 3 Benchmarking Cost of Total Ownership 

(Boussabaine et al., 2004) 

construction 18%


THE INGENIEUR 

construction of buildings often 

represents less than 15% of 

the total life-cycle cost of the 

buildings. 

Another study by Boussabaine 

et al. (2004) gave a slightly 

higher percentage of the design 

and construction life cycle cost 

at 22% as shown in Figure 3, 

which allows the whole life cycle 

cost (WLC) to be compared and 

controlled. This benchmarking 

cost is a recent guideline for 

projects procured using the 

PFI route (Boussabaine et al., 

2004). 

For efficiency, the project lifecycle 

cost should be seen in totality 

from design to maintenance. Lifecycle 

operations and maintenance 

(O&M) and capital renewal costs, 

however, almost always comprise 

a far greater percentage of the 

total lifecycle building costs 

(Selman, 2004). For example, 

decisions made at the design 

stage of a project could have 

significant long-term effects. A 

study by Minami (2004) in Japan 

suggested that a reduction became 

apparent in facilities investment 

costs in terms of the relationship 

between the rebuilding cycle, 

rebuilding and repair, by changing 

the present rebuilding from 40 to 

building additions at age 40, and 

rebuilding at age 60. 

The way forward taken by the 

industry is more integrated, better 

exchange of data and seamless 

c o m m u n i c a t i o n a m o n g t h e 

construction players throughout 

the lifecycle of the project 

(Construction 21, 1999; McKinsey, 

1995; Lafford et al., 2000). 

FM Within the Construction 

Industry 

Latham (1994) and Egan 

(1998) have produced documents 

entitled Constructing the team 

and Rethinking Construction 

respectively, as guidelines for 

improving the UK construction 

industry. The essence of their 

initiatives is to bring improvement 

to the industry through partnering, 

a n d b e t t e r c o m m u n i c a t i o n 

by means of integrating the 

construction value chain. This 

approach encourages the seamless 

transfer of information and better 

communication among players 

throughout the life-cycle from 

design to FM. 

Egan (1998) recognised the 

need for construction and facilities 

managers to work together as part 

of an integrated team to improve 

results to reduce maintenance 

expenditure. Teicholz (2004) 

identified the need to bridge 

the gap between design and 

construction, and FM is becoming 

of critical importance to clients 

and is often raised by industry 

players. 

Ineffective communication 

practices adopted by project 

participants throughout the 

construction life-cycle (Emmerson, 

1962; Banwell, 1964; Higgins and 

Jessop, 1965) have contributed 

to the productivity decline in 

construction. Important information 

relevant to FM activities is 

frequently missed and not 

captured, resulting in unnecessary 

reworking to obtain the needed 

details. In order to avoid this 

situation FM stakeholders and 

construction players are required 

to discuss and determine the 

mechanism for improvement. 

Important information on 

building structural elements, for 

example on the load carrying 

capacity of columns, load bearing 

walls or suspended slabs, must be 

recorded in as-built drawings as 

digitised or hardcopy and passed 

to the client from the contractor 

once the building project is 

completed. This building element 

information is also important in 

asset management for example, 

when purchasing equipment 

and machinery, since facilities 

managers need to be able to 

ensure that new purchases of 

this kind will actually fit into 

the space available and will 

be most appropriately and safely 

sited from the start, rather than 

having to learn by trial and error. 

This information must be readily 

accessible by the client during the 

operation and maintenance of the 

building when it is required. 

Major relevant information not 

captured during the construction 

stage result in poor FM performance 

later. An example is information 

on a wall detail drawing presented 

in an as-built drawing with 

insufficient information on its 

design. If the design property of 

the wall is not indicated and it 

is not known whether it is a load 

bearing wall or a partition wall, it 

is difficult to arrive at the proper 

decision when renovation work 

is required since demolishing the 

wall for renovation purposes may 

be risky, but on the other hand, 

assuming that a partition wall is 

actually a load bearing wall will 

affect the structural integrity of 

the building if undue pressure is 

exerted on it. 

C o n s t r u c t i o n - r e l a t e d 

information such as information 

on building elements is not 

for the sole use of building 

m a i n t e n a n c e a n d p r o p e r t y 

management but is also required 

during the support function, for 

instance in landscaping, furniture 

management and environmental 

management. 

Design, Build, Operate and 

Transfer Procurement 

The concept of the project 

life-cycle has made Government 

agencies, facilities managers, key 

construction players, employers 

and clients, all work closely 

together to produce better results 

throughout the project life-cycle. 

Maintenance and operation of 

facilities is often taken as an 

isolated and frequently neglected 

aspect in the life-cycle construction 

approach. Design, Build, Operate 

and Transfer (DBOT) or the PFI 

method of procurement has 

brought together construction 

players and FM stakeholders 

enabling better communication 

that could produce improved 

construction services and products


17 


type 

Design, Build, 

Operate & 

Transfer (DBOT) 

or PFI 

Design & Build 


Traditional 


(Dixon et. al, 2003). Authorities 

and contractors will achieve a 

successful partnership where 

they each meet their respective 

objectives over the life of the 

project (Comptroller and Auditor 

General, 2001). 

The global trend indicates 

that traditional procurement is 

being phased out and replaced 

by design and build (D&B) 

procurement and is gradually 

moving towards Design, Build, 

Operate and Transfer (DBOT) or 

the PFI procurement type which is 

seen to provide better integration 

as shown in Figure 4. 

The strength and benefit of 

DBOT procurement has influenced 

many countries in the world to 

put it into practice, and as a result 

of implementing this method, the 

Australian construction industry 

is witnessing a greater level of 

integration among players across 

the construction value chain 

(McKinsey, 1995). Similarly, in 

Singapore where the Government 

has taken initiatives to allow 

the integration of AEC players 

in construction projects at an 

Improve integration, communication 

Design Tender Construction 

Consultant Owner Contractor 

Key 

Tasks/Activities 

Develop 

conceptual 

designs 

Obtain 

planning 

approvals 

Owner/DBOT/PFI Consortium 

Consultant/Contractor Owner 

Develop tender 

specifications 

Ascertain bills of 

quantity 

Put up invitation to 

tender 

Submission of tender 

Evaluation of 

proposals 

Award of tender 

Drawing up contracts 

and liabilities 

Figure 4 Improve Communication Through Procurement 

Obtain various 

permits (e.g. 

factory permits, 

work permits etc.) 

Mobilisation of 

resources 

Construction 

Project 

management 

early stage (Construct 21, 1999), 

collaboration between the owner, 

the professionals and the builders 

has been intensified. The use of 

the design-build project delivery 

method in Singapore, while 

barely 10 years old, has risen 

to a 20% share of the public 

sector construction market, which 

in turn dominates the Singapore 

construction industry with a 60% 

share (Neo, 2001). 

Fragmentation is minimised 

through DBOT by bringing all 

parties on board right from 

the onset of the construction 

project. This allows the seamless 

transfer of information by cutting 

down red tape and paperwork. 

Variation orders are carried out 

much faster as instruction is given 

directly to the DBOT consortium, 

unlike in the traditional method 

of procurement where work is 

carried out after going through 

many layers, moving first from the 

owner who gives the instruction 

order to the consultant who later 

passes the instruction to the 

contractor to carry out the job. 

As a result, the delays in giving 

Facilities 

Management 

Owner 

Maintain 1-year 

defect liability and 

structural defect 

liability 

Carry out remedial 

work 

Maintenance 

management 

Property 

management 

Serv 

operation 

Improve integration, communication 

instructions for DBOT projects 

are reduced, and projects can be 

completed earlier and be ready 

for occupancy. 

In the maintenance and 

operation of a building, the 

seamless transfer of information 

and proper sharing are evident 

among all the parties within 

the management of one DBOT 

consortium. It is also possible 

to transfer relevant information 

for the use of the organisation’s 

support services without difficulty, 

as the controlling authority also 

comes from the same DBOT 

consortium. 

Construction Versus Support 

Service Views 

The American and the British 

approach to FM functions differ. 

In her research, Maliene (2005) 

identified the development of 

FM as coming from two different 

schools of thought: 

● American - FM is focused 

o n wo r k p l a c e e f f i c i e n cy 

a n d m a n a g e m e n t o f t h e


THE INGENIEUR 

facilities; the main target is 

the physical workplace (Tay 

and Ooi, 2001; Cotts and 

Lee 1992), 

● B r i t i s h - F M i s f o c u s e d 

o n i n t e g r a t e d s e r v i c e s , 

h e a l t h a n d p r o d u c t iv i t y, 

improvement of the work 

environment and employees; 

the most attention is paid 

Maintenance/Operation 

Management 

Monitoring/ 

Tracking 

Maintenance/ 

Alteration/ 

Repair 

Space 

Management 

Figure 5 Identifiable FM Functions (IFMA, 1997) 

to the core business and 

employee support (Maliene, 

2005). 

In order to have a clear view 

on FM functions, the author has 

categorised group maintenance 

and operation management and 

also property management as 

construction-related activities, 

while services and performance 

Identifiable Facilities Management (FM) Functions 

Group 1 - FM definition Group 2 - FM definition 

Asset Accounts 

Functional Performance 

Track Cost Value 

Track Operation Cost 

Track Life Cycle Cost 

Energy Consumption 

Operation Efficiency 

Specification/ 

Configuration 

Procurement/Installation 

Preventive Maintenance 

Project Execution 

Problem Identification/ 

Allocation 

Space Use Management 

Move Management 

Property Management 

Building Assessment 

Site Selection/ 

Acquisition 

Rent Management 

Lease Management 

Building Purchase 

Advertising 

Public Relations 

Area Measurement/ 

Calculation 

Space Allocation 

Space Assignment 

Space Suitability 

Assessment 

Space Programming 

Space Forecasting/ 

Planning 

Post-occupancy 

Evaluation 

Placement of Signs 

have been grouped as a support 

to the primary objectives of the 

organisation. In North America 

the FM functions are popularly 

c l a s s i f i e d i n t o t h r e e b a s i c 

categories: maintenance and 

operation management, property 

m a n a g e m e n t , a n d s e r v i c e s 

(IFMA, 1997). Figure 5 shows 

the Identifiable functions of FM 

by the IFMA (1997). 

Services 

Warehouse 

Management 

Custodian 

Work Planning 

Copy/Printing 

Services 

Hazardous/ 

Recycling 

Emergency 

Planning 

Fire Protection 

Security 

Services 

Occupancy 

Planning 

Stacking/ 

Blocking 

Floor Layout 

Furniture 

Design 

FM related to design and construction - Group 1 FM as services in the organisation - Group2


19 

Maintenance and operation 

management is further classified 

into the three interrelated 

function areas; monitoring and 

tracking, maintenance, alteration/ 

repairing, and space management 

(IFMA, 1997). Sub-functions of 

each of these areas are also 

defined. On the other hand, 

the IFMA outlines some of the 

FM functions under services as 

including warehouse management, 

work planning, printing services, 

recycling, emergency planning, 

fire protection and security 

services. The functions of FM are 

further divided accordingly, based 

on the two groups identified in 

the previous section for ease of 

discussion. 

Furthermore, discussion and 

research forums between leading 

FM organisations and the Centre 

of Facilities Management (CFM), 

as a leading centre in the UK, 

have identified seven categories 

of FM services as follows (CFM, 

2004): 

Facilities Management (FM) Functions 

Group 1 - FM definition Group 2 - FM definition 

Design 

Construction 

Building operations and 

maintenance 

1. Electrical 

2. Fabric 

3. Grounds 

4. Mechanical 

5. Specialist equipment 

Property Management 

1. Space planning 

2. Asset management 

3. Project management 

4. Design/Construction 

5. Disposals/Acquisition 

6. Relocation 

management 

Infrastructure 

1. Utilities (gas, water, 

electricity) 

2. Road 

Environmental 

management 

1. Energy management 

2. Health and safety 

3. Hygiene services 

4. Pest control 

5. Waste management 

Information 

Technology and 

Telecommunications 

FM related to design and construction – Group 1 

FM as services in the organisation – Group 2 

1. IT advisory services 

2. IT R&D 

3. Information services 

4. Management 

information systems 

5. Technical services 

6. Systems administration 

and management 

7. Computer/server 

8. CAFM systems (CAD, 

PPM, GIS, DSS, etc 

9. Customer 

response/support 

10.Network services and 

Management 

11. Cable management 

12. Telecommunication 

systems and services 

13. Network and 

telecommunications 

Figure 6 FM Function derived from Centre for FM (UK) 

1. Building operations and 

maintenance 

2. Support services which include 

catering, porter service, 

cleaning and security 

3. Information Technology and 

telecommunications 

4. Transport 

5. Property management 

6. Infrastructure 

7. Environment management 

The above categories have 

been grouped together according 

Services and performance 

Support Services 

1. Catering and 

vending services 

2. Cleaning 

3. Courier services 

4. Furniture 

management 

5. Landscape internal 

6. Laundry 

7. Mail room 

8. Office support 

services 

9. On-site moves 

10. Porterage 

11. Reception 

12. Security 

13.Travel 

14. Library 

15. Shops/retail 

Transport 

1. Fleet management 

2. Site transportation 

3. Vehicle renting and 

leasing 

Business support 

services in client 

organisations 

1. Administration 

2. Finance 

3. Human resource 

4. Procurement


THE INGENIEUR 

to design and construction 

(Group 1), service/performance 

and Information Technology 

(Group 2) as in Figure 6. Figures 

5 and 6 enable the reader to 

appreciate the difference between 

the approach commonly used in 

America and the CFM in the UK. 

The main difference is seen in 

the services function of FM. 

The American interpretation 

places more emphasis on the 

physical workplace but this 

does not mean that there is less 

interest in FM services functions 

in this approach. On the other 

hand, the CFM in the UK, has 

a focus which is more towards 

the services output for FM rather 

than the physical workplace. 

Kuala Lumpur International Airport 

The inclusion of IT and 

t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s h a s 

stressed its importance as one 

of the functions of FM in 

the provision of integrated 

services for improvement of the 

work environment, employee 

satisfaction, and the sharing 

of design and construction 

information with other FM 

stakeholders. 

Recommendation 

FM must be considered as 

part of any PFI initiatives. The 

concept of PFI and the definition 

of FM must be clearly defined 

and understood. There is yet to 

be an agreeable definition of FM 

among the construction industry 

players and, property developers 

in Malaysia. 

In Malaysia even though the 

concept of PFI is relative new 

but the practice on partnering 

has taken placed as early as the 

80’s. These included the use of 

design, build and operate contract 

on infrastructure and building 

projects. These experiences could 

be tapped and learned 

PFI is about partnering, risk 

transfer and trust which emphase 

the importance of whole life cycle 

approach. The strength of PFI lies 

on the following: 

● Benefit of project to owner, 

concessionaire, public (winwin 

approach) 

● Procurement strategy 

● Strategic partnering 

● Risk transfer valuation 

● Innovation 

● C o n t r a c t a n d p r o j e c t 

management experience 

● Interaction of all parties at 

onset of the construction 

project 

PFI must be looked in a 

holistic view which incorporate 

design, construction related 

activities on one side and 

operation, maintenance (i.e. FM) 

on the other side. It shall be 

a win-win situation approach 

that fulfills client-concessionairepublic/customer 

satisfaction. 

As the agreement between 

the client and concessionaire 

will last between 30 and 35 

years, a careful and thorough 

examination on cost and benefit 

analysis must be done prior to 

adopting PFI in any construction 

project. 

In order to successfully practice 

PFI in Malaysia, it requires a 

combination between experts 

(i.e. client/owner, concessionaire 

and public) in project and 

contract management, facilities 

management, economist, social 

sciences to be on board right at 

the onset of any potential PFI 

project discussion. BEM


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creating the platform for business 

value by, Director, Centre for 

Facilities Management, University 

of Salford, 2003 http://fm.atalink. 

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2003a, vol. 21, no. 11-12, pp. 269- 

274(6) Emerald Group Publishing 

Limited 

Allen, S., Lenard, D. (2004) 

Private Finance and Public Private 

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Construction Innovation. http:// 

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21 st . December, 2004 

Alshawi, M., Faraj, I. (2002), 

I n t e g r a t e d c o n s t r u c t i o n 

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Innovation 2002;2: 33-51, Arnold 

A m o r . R . , B e t t . M . , 2 0 0 1 , 

I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y f o r 

Construction: Recent Work and 

Future Directions, CIB World 

Building Congress, April, 2001, 

Wellington, New Zealand. 

Aouad, G. and Alshawi, M. 1996: 

Priority Topics for Construction 

I n f o r m a t i o n T e c h n o l o g y , 

International Journal of Construction 

Information Technology 4, 45-66. 

Badawi, Abdullah A. Datuk Seri 

(2001) The Deputy Prime Minister 

of Malaysia, (February 2001), The 

Star (newspaper), Malaysia. 

Banwell, H. 1964: Report of the 

Committee on the Placing and 

Management of Contracts for 

Building and Civil Engineering 

Work. HMSO, UK. 

Barrett, P & Baldry, D (2003) 

Facilities Management Towards 

Best Practice, Blackwell Publishing, 

Oxford, UK, 2003 

Betts, M. editor, 1999: Strategic 

Management of IT in Construction, 

Blackwell Science. 

Boussabaine, H. A., Kirkham, R. 

J. (2004) Whole Life-cycle costing 

Risk and Risk Responses, Blackwell 

Publishing. 

Brandon, P.S. (1999) Process/ 

Product Development in 2000 

Beyond, Berkeley-Stanford CE&M 

Workshop, Stanford 1999. 

Brandon, P, Smith, D, Betts, M. 

1997: Creating a Framework For 

IT in Construction http://www.scpm. 

salford.ac.uk/meeting/docs/papers/ 

paper1/paper1.htm. 

Brandon, P. 2000: Construction 

IT: Forward to what? - Keynotes 

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IT to obtain a competitive advantage 

in the 21 st . Century, Conference 

Proceedings, 17-18 January, Hong 

Kong, 1-15. 

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Ministry of Power and Ministry of 

Development Singapore. 

Civil Engineering Design and 

Guide: A guide to integrating design 

into construction process, 2000: 

CIRIA,DETR UK 

Dixon, T, Jordan, A, Marston, 

A, Pinder, J, Pottinger, G. (2003) 

Lessons from UK PFI and Real Estate 

Partnerships - drivers, barriers and 

critical success factors, College of 

Estate Management, Reading. 

Eden, J. Chen S.E. and McGeorge, 

D. 2000: Australian Government 

Initiatives in IT Take Up, INCITE 

2000 Implementing IT to obtain a 

competitive advantage in the 21 st . 

Century, Conference Proceedings, 

17-18 January, Hong Kong, 197- 

208. 

Egan, Sir John. 1998: Rethinking 

Construction, Department of Trade 

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Emmerson, H. 1962: Survey of 

Problems Before the Construction 

Industries. HMSO, UK. 

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of Information Technology in 

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http://www.stanford.edu/group/CIFE/ 

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Specification of a Strategy to Facilitate 

the Effective Integration of ICT in 

the Malaysian Construction Industry, 

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(Submitted on 8 th . May, 2003) 

Hamid, Z., Alshawi (2004), Strategic 

Information Systems Planning 

Requirements in Facilities Management 

for health Sector – A Plan for 

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2004, CIDB Malaysia 

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Communications in the Construction 

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F r a n c o i s G r o b l e r ( 2 0 0 0 ) , A 

development framework for data 

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facilities management, Automation 

in Construction Volume 9, Issue 

2, March 2000, Pages 145-167, 

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J., Levitt, R. 2002: Integrated and 

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of the Center for Integrated 

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and George Ofori, 2004: Building 

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1243-1251 Elsevier Ltd. 

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D, Lam K-C and Evans, S. 

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by Australian subcontractors, 

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1, Number 1, 2001, Arnold. 

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for construction IT 2005-2010, 

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1,December 2000 

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O’Connell,M. J., Hanninen, R., 

Laitinen, J. 2001: Near, Medium and 

Long-Term Benefits of Information 

Technology in Construction. CIFE 

Working Paper # 65 July, 2001. 

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AEC/FM TECHNOLOGY GAP 

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(UCL), (1993) MSc: Facility and 

Environment Management, course 

definition.


THE INGENIEUR 

Professional Services 

Export Fund 

By Professional Services Expert Fund Unit, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation 

(MATRADE) 

The Professional Services Export Fund (PSEF) 

is a scheme to provide financial assistance in 

the form of reimbursable grant, to Malaysian 

Professional Service Providers (PSPs) for undertaking 

activities to export their services. The Fund’s 

objectives are to: 

● Expand export of Malaysian professional 

services 

● Brand Malaysian professionals 

● Gather market intelligence to assist Malaysian 

companies to secure overseas projects. 

It was launched on September 28, 2006 with an 

allocation (Ninth Malaysia Plan) of RM150 million. 

The Fund is part of the Government’s policy package 

to increase export of Malaysian services. 

The sectors eligible to apply for the Fund 

include: 

● Social services 

● Infrastructure 

● Environment, water & natural resources 

● Energy & mining 

● Healthcare & hospital management services 

● ICT for development including e-government 

● Rehabilitation & reconstruction studies 

● Utilities, water supply & sewerage 

● Architectural & interior design services 

● Urban planning & management 

● Agricultural & rural development 

● Information systems & service applications 

Road construction 

The three types of grants available are: 

● Matching Grant 

● Conditional Grant 

● Pre-feasibility and feasibility Grant 

Matching grants finance 50 % of approved 

eligible expenses in the preparation and 

submission of bids for eligible studies. Costs 

include preparing and submitting a bid to do a 

study, not the cost of actually doing the study 

itself. Conditional grants reimburse 50 % of 

eligible expenses incurred in the preparation 

and submission of: 

● Bids: Design, Design-Build, Design-Build- 

Operate and Design-Build- Operate-Maintain 

projects; 

Or 

● Negotiated projects: Project proposals made 

directly to clients through negotiations 

Pre-feasibility and feasibility grants are 

specifically for financing up to 100% of the cost 

of the respective studies. Studies can take any of 

the following forms: 

● fully funded through the PSEF; 

● jointly funded by the PSEF and the foreign 

Government or its agencies; 

● jointly funded by the PSEF and the owner of 

the project; 

● jointly funded by the PSEF and global and 

international funding institutions. 

Eligible expenses and activities incorporate the 

following: 

● Purchase of bid documents 

● Travel and accommodation expenses related to 

bid briefing, technical visits and consultative 

meetings with potential clients 

● Approved costs related to fact-finding and 

market research 

● Approved design costs 

● Staff costs 

● Scale & mock-up model costs 

● Printing, binding and transmittal costs.


23 

Travel and accommodation expenses cover: 

● Travelling cost not more than 15 trips 

● Accommodations for a maximum of 21 nights 

not exceeding RM1000 per night 

● Economy class not inclusive of visa, excess 

baggage and premiums 

● Related local expenses including car rentals, 

taxi fares and cost of engaging a local guide 

and interpreter. 

Fact-finding and market research relate to 

surveys: geotechnical, hydrological and ground 

surveys, purchase of market reports and 

related information and related expenses on 

research and local studies. Schematic designs, 

computer-aided animation, video presentation 

and technical drawing costs are included under 

design costs. 

Staff Costs incorporates: 

● Professional and support staff (sub-professional 

and administrative) 

● Those directly involved with the preparation 

of the bid or proposal, This is guided by 

the latest Treasury Guidelines on Government 

Procurement for Consultancy Services 

Who is eligible to apply for the Fund 

Companies must be at least 60% Malaysian 

owned. They can be sole proprietors, partnerships 

or firms which are competent and have the 

capacity to export. The companies should have 

qualified and technical staff; and be able to 

provide evidence of financial support to undertake 

the bid or proposals. 

To apply, the financial criteria for non-SMEs 

are 

● 3 years audited account and must satisfy: 

(i) Positive shareholders’ fund 

(ii) Positive working capital 

In the event (i) and (ii) are not satisfactory, 

the company may submit 

● Company’s latest bank statement (six months) 

with average balance not less than 10% of 

the value of grant applied; or 

● Directors’ latest bank statements (six months) 

with average balance not less than 10% of 

the value of grant applied; or 

● Credit line or loan facilities with local or 

foreign bank with facilities value of not less 

than 20% of the value of grant applied 

Water supply project 

For SMEs, the financial criteria are: 

● Audited accounts for the proceeding three years 

with positive shareholders’ fund and working 

capital 

Or 

● Latest unaudited accounts and evidence of 

financial capabilities in terms of bank statements 

or other financial supports available to undertake 

the bid/proposal 

How to apply 

● Get details from www.matrade.gov.my 

● PSEF 1/07 and supporting documents are 

required 

● For bids, please submit application within the 

bid eligibility period (after bid notice date until 

closing of bid date) 

● For negotiated projects, please submit applications 

90 days from receiving the Letter of Intent 

(LOI). BEM 

Please contact the following key persons for 

further details: 

● En Azhar Mohd, Senior Manager 

03-62077077 ext 7138 

Email: azharm@matrade.gov.my 

● En Mohamed Hafiz Md Shariff, Assistant Manager 

03-62077077 ext 7136 

Email: mdhafiz@matrade.gov.my 

● En Suwardy Abd. Shukor, Assistant Manager 

03-62077077 ext 7137 

Email: suwardy@matrade.gov.my

24 UPDATE 

THE INGENIEUR 

SYABAS understands the need to expedite internal plumbing plan approvals, and has already implemented 

the simultaneous processing of external plan and internal plumbing plan as a way to speed up approval 

of plans 

However, in order to avoid issues due to a lack of coordination in the design assumption, to proceed 

with such simultaneous plan processing SYABAS has decided that for cases where internal plumbing plan 

approval is held up because the external plan has not been approved yet, the M/E consultant responsible 

for internal plumbing must obtain a confirmation letter from the external civil and structural (C & S) 

engineer that: 

(a) Where internal pumping is provided in the building, the C & S engineers responsible for the external 

system, provides a letter certifying that the amount of residual pressure to and at the suction tank is 

greater than 7.5 metres (where source was approved from SYABAS reticulation pipe) and 4.5 metres 

(where the developer has built an external reservoir or sourced from approved trunk distribution 

main). 

(b) Where internal pumping is not required and flow water into the main tank is by gravity, then the C&S 

engineer responsible for the external system provides a letter certifying that the amount of residual 

pressure to and at the highest supply level of tank is greater than 7.5 metres (where source was 

approved from SYABAS reticulation pipe) and 4.5 metres (where the developer has built an external 

reservoir or sourced from approved trunk distribution main). 

The above procedure would be implemented with immediate effect. 

DATO’ IR. LEE MIANG KOI 

Chief Operating Officer 

SYARIKAT BEKALAN AIR SELANGOR SDN. BHD. 

LIGHTER MOMENTS 

Situations Under Which Internal 

Plumbing Plan Approval Can Be Given 

Though External Plan Not Approved Yet 

ICT Evolution 

After having dug to a depth of 1000 meters 

last year, Swedish scientists found traces of 

copper wire dating back 1000 years 

and came to the conclusion that 

their ancestors already had a 

telephone network more than 

1000 years ago. 

Not to be outdone by the 

Swedes, in the weeks that followed, 

English scientists dug to a depth 

of 2000 meters and shortly after, 

headlines in the UK newspapers read; 

English archaeologists have found traces of 2000 

year old fiber-optic cable and have concluded 

that their ancestors already had an advanced hightech 

digital communications network a thousand 

years earlier than the Swedes. 

One week later, Malaysian newspapers 

reported the following: After digging as 

deep as 5000 meters in padi fields in 

Kedah, Malaysian scientists have found 

absolutely nothing. 

They, therefore, have concluded 

that 5000 years ago, Malaysian’s 

inhabitants were already using wireless 

technology. 

Moral of the story: Malaysia Boleh..........!!! 

Author: Unknown

THE INGENIEUR ENGINEERING & LAW 

25 

The SCL Delay And 

Disruption Protocol: 

An Overview 

By Ir. Harbans Singh K.S. 1 

Delay and Disruption issues represent a 

significant portion of contentious matters 

confronting implementers of projects 

especially in the post-contract award phase. 

Various aspects of this important area of contract 

administration and claims have been addressed in 

my previous articles penned for The Ingenieur; the 

most recent example of which being in Vols. 33 

and 34 2 . However, such articles are not exhaustive 

and within the various prevailing constraints, these 

have not been able to cover the whole spectrum of 

issues which a practitioner should be aware of. This 

instant article therefore aims to expand upon the 

discussion by introducing an important development 

that is making waves in the construction industry, 

in particular, in the United Kingdom and which 

in due time will be reaching our shores with its 

attendant ramifications. This is a document entitled 

‘The Society of Construction Law (SCL) Delay and 

Disruption Protocol’ 3 ; a very thorough and well 

researched piece of work drafted by a body of 

lawyers, engineers, architects, surveyors and others 

with an interest in the legal aspects of construction 

projects. After an extended period of consultation, 

the SCL Protocol was published on October 16, 

2002; being reprinted subsequently in 2004. In 

a nutshell, the SCL Protocol deals principally 

with cost and time issues pertaining to delay and 

disruption in construction projects. Its impact upon 

the construction industry is neatly summed up by 

Davison in the following words: 4 

…… While the Protocol is not without its critics 

and is regarded, at least in some respects, as 

controversial in some respects, 

it represents a body of thought and opinion 

from a respected body, only reached after a long 

and extensive consultation process with interested 

parties in the industry …… It does however contain 

a thoughtful and well researched set of guidelines 

for the methods that can be adopted to resolve the 

issues of delay in construction contracts, bearing 

in mind that many issues do not have finite, or 

absolute, answers and the Protocol can offer only 

a set of balanced and considered views. It should 

however be borne in mind that any analysis of 

events on a Construction Contract will only be as 

sound as the facts on which it is based. There is no 

substitute for properly recorded factual information 

as the basis of any analysis ….. 

Contents 5 

The SCL Protocol comprises the following 

principal contents: 

I. Introduction 

II. Core Principles relating to delay and 

compensation 

III. Guidance Notes 

● Guidance Section 1: Guidelines on the 

Protocol’s position on the Core Principles 

and on other matters relating to delay and 

compensation. 

● Guidance Section 2: Guidelines on preparing 

and maintaining programmes and records. 

● Guidance Section 3: Guidelines on dealing 

with extensions of time during the course of 

the project. 

● Guidelines Section 4: Guidelines on dealing 

with disputed extension of time issues after 

the completion of the project – retrospective 

delay analysis. 

● Concluding notes and dedication. 

1. Director HSH Consult Sdn. Bhd. B.E. (Mech) S’pore, 

LLB (Hons) London, CLP, DipICArb, P.E., C. Eng. 

2. Under the titles ‘Demystifying Direct Loss and Claims’ 

and ‘Demystifying Direct Loss and Expense Claims: The 

Continuing Saga’. 

3. Hereinafter called ‘The SCL Protocol’ in short. 

4. See Davison, P. “Evaluating Contract Claims” at p5. 

5. See www.scl.org.UK and www.eotprotocol.com.

26 ENGINEERING & LAW 

THE INGENIEUR 

IV. Appendices 

Appendix A - Definitions and glossary 

Appendix B - Model Specification Clause 

Appendix C - Model Records Clause 

Appendix D - Graphics illustrating points in 

the Protocol. 

I. Introduction 

This section of the Protocol sets out in a clear 

and concise manner the objects/purposes which this 

document aims to achieve, these being namely 6 : 

● To provide useful guidance where one party to 

a construction contract wishes to recover from 

the other extension of time and/or compensation 

due to the latter’s default; 

● To provide a means by which the said parties 

can resolve these matters and avoid necessary 

disputes; 

● To provide a scheme for dealing with delay and 

disruption issues that is balanced and viable; 

● To provide recommendations and guidance to 

those involved with both the drafting of contracts 

and implementing these; 

● To act as an aid to the interpretation and analysis 

of the delay and disruption provisions contained 

in standard form civil engineering and building 

contracts 7 ; and 

● To eventually get the construction industry 

to adopt the Protocol’s guidance as the best 

method of dealing with matters of delay and 

disruption which arise during the course of a 

contract. 

The limitations and the attendant caveats are also 

expressly spelt out, these being principally: 

● The Protocol is not intended to be a contract 

document, i.e. it is not framed with the intention 

that it should itself form part of the contract, 

although it has model clauses for possible 

adoption and incorporation in contracts 8 ; 

● It does not purport to take precedence over the 

express terms of a contract or to be a statement 

of law; 

● The Protocol has not been put forward as a 

benchmark of current 9 good practice throughout 

the Construction industry 10 ; 

● Users are advised to apply the Protocol’s 

recommendations with common sense; 

● The information, recommendations and/or advice 

contained in the Protocol are intended for use 

as a general statement and guide only; and 

● A general exclusion of liability; users being 

advised to take appropriate professional advice 

on the matters referred to in the publication. 

II. Core Principles 11 

The essence of the Protocol is contained in this 

section which lists out 21 Core Principles, there 

being: 

■ Core Principle 1: Programme and records 

The Protocol recommends that a proper 

programme should be submitted by the Contractor 

and approved by the Contract Administrator 12 . The 

programme is the essential monitoring tool for the 

Protocol, and the Protocol envisages that the updated 

programme will be the main tool for determining 

the amount of any extensions of time. 

As to its application in practice, heed should be 

taken of Davison’s advice to the following effect 13 : 

…. the most sensible approach to the Protocol 

is to regard it as a very sensible guide to good 

practice in the analysis of delay and disruption 

where it can be applied in harmony with the 

contract provisions, but not to incorporate it into 

a contract as it expressly states itself at paragraph 

B of the Introduction that it is not intended to 

be a contract document. Indeed it is difficult to 

imagine how a Protocol covering such a wide range 

of coverage could be compatible with more than 

one form of contract at a time. 

6. See ‘The SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol’ (Rep. 2004) 

at p3 &4. 

7. And presumably also for M&E contracts pertaining to 

construction projects. 

8. See Davison, P. “Evaluating Contract Claims” at p5 

9. i.e. 2002. 

10. Although it aims that the administration of contracts will 

eventually meet the Protocol’s standards. 

11. See ‘The SCL Protocol’ at p5 to 9. 

12. Engineer, Architect, S.O., Employer’s Representative, etc. 

as applicable. 

13. Davison, P. “Evaluating Contract Claims” at p37.


27 

■ Core Principle 2: Purpose of Extension of Time 

(EOT) 

The benefit to the Contractor of EOT is that it 

is relieved from its liability for damages for delay 

in completion in the form of liquidated damages. 

For the Employer, the mechanism prevents contract 

time from becoming ‘at large’; thereby preserving the 

Employer’s rights to the consequential damages. 

■ Core Principle 3: Entitlement to Extension 

of Time 

This principle emphasizes the need for the 

application for extension of time to be made and 

dealt with as close in time as possible to the 

delay event that gives rise to the application. It 

also underlines the fact that the Contractor is not 

automatically entitled to any delay event but only 

those in respect of which the Employer has assumed 

risk and responsibility 14 . The recommendation is for 

the parties to attempt, so far as is possible, to deal 

with the impact of the Employer Risk Event as the 

work proceeds, both in terms of time and cost. 

■ Core Principle 4: Procedure for granting 

extension of time 

Encompasses the general principles that need 

to be followed in granting the extension of time, 

these being: 

● The extension of time should only be granted to the 

extent that the Employer Risk Event is reasonably 

predicted to prevent the works completed by the 

then prevailing contract completion date; and 

● The procedure for granting extension of time 

should ensure that the purpose of such activity 

be maintained i.e. to ascertain the appropriate 

contractual entitlement to an extension of time 

and not to be based on whether or not the 

Contractor needs an extension of time in order 

not to be liable for liquidated damages. 

■ Core Principle 5: Effect of Delay 

This principle deals mainly with the common 

situation in practice where the contract administrator 

wants to see what the full impact of an Employer 

Risk Event will be on the progress of the works under 

the contract, before it deals with the Contractor’s 

application for extension of time. As far as the 

protocol is concerned, it holds that 15 for an extension 

of time to be granted, it is not necessary for the 

Employer Risk Event already to have begun to affect 

the Contractor’s progress with the works, or for the 

effect of the Employer Risk Event to have ended. 

■ Core Principle 6: Incremental review of 

extension of time 

Core Principle 6 addresses the scenario where 

an Employer Risk Event has occurred but its full 

effect cannot be predicted at the time of the initial 

assessment by the contract administrator. Here it 

is recommended that 16 : 

• Nevertheless the contract administrator should 

still grant an Extension of time for the then 

predictable event; 

• The contract administrator should assess and 

award the extension of time on an incremental 

basis i.e. at intervals as the actual impact of the 

Employer Risk Event unfolds; and 

• In undertaking the said review and assessment, the 

extension of time can be increased incrementally, 

if appropriate, but cannot be decreased, unless 

there are express provisions stipulated in the 

contract permitting this. 

The Protocol’s recommendations are sanctioned 

by many authorities; one such being Carnell, 

who, in his text entitled ‘Causation and Delay in 

Construction Disputes’ states 17 : 

The practice of waiting to see the full effects 

of an employer’s risk event before awarding an 

extension of time is said not to be good practice 

….. it is indicated that the better approach is for 

14. Labeled in the Protocol as ‘Employer Risk Event’, 

commonly called ‘Act of Prevention’. 

6. See ‘The SCL Delay and Disruption Protocol’ (Rep. 2004) 

at p3 &4. 

7. And presumably also for M&E contracts pertaining to 

construction projects. 

8. See Davison, P. “Evaluating Contract Claims” at p5 

9. i.e. 2002. 

10. Although it aims that the administration of contracts will 

eventually meet the Protocol’s standards. 

11. See ‘The SCL Protocol’ at p5 to 9. 

12. Engineer, Architect, S.O., Employer’s Representative, etc. 

as applicable. 

13. Davison, P. “Evaluating Contract Claims” at p37. 

14. Labeled in the Protocol as ‘Employer Risk Event’, 

commonly called ‘Act of Prevention’. 

15. See also Guidance Section 1.2.12 The SCL Protocol. 

16. See also Guidance Section 1.2.14, p13 The SCL 

Protocol. 

17. See Carnell, N.J. ‘Causation and Delay in Construction 

Disputes’ at p224 & 225.


THE INGENIEUR 

extension of time to be issued which represents 

the best possible estimate at that time. As better 

information becomes available the extension can 

be increased, although not reduced unless specific 

provision for this is made in the contract. The 

rational for this, of course, is that the programme 

should keep pace with events as they occur on 

site and should be a dynamic device for measuring 

progress and delays. 

■ Core Principle 7: Float as it relates to time 

The instant core principle and the subsequent 

one 18 address issues pertaining to the contentious 

area of ‘float’ 19 in a work programme and its effect 

on ‘time impact analysis’ and ‘cost impact analysis’. 

Core Principles 7 stipulates that unless there is an 

express provision to the contrary in the contract 

between the Employer and the Contractor, the 

Protocol recommends that where there is remaining 

float at the time of an Employer Risk Event, in 

terms of ‘time impact analysis’, an extension of 

time should only be granted to the extent that the 

Employer Delay is predicted to reduce to below 

zero the total float on the activity paths affected 

by the Employer Delay. 

■ Core Principle 8: Float as it relates to 

compensation 

Core Principle 8 deals with the ‘Cost impact 

analysis’ vis-à-vis ‘float’ to the following effect: 

● If as a result of an Employer Delay, the Contractor 

is prevented from completing the works by the 

Contractor planned date 20 , the latter should in 

principle be entitled to be paid the costs directly 

by the Employer Delay; and 

● This applies notwithstanding that there is no delay 

to the Contract Completion date 21 provided also 

that at the time they enter into the Contract, the 

Employer is aware of the Contractor’s intention 

to complete the works prior to the contract 

completion date, and that intention is realistic 

and achievable. 

■ Core Principle 9: Concurrent Delay – Its effect 

on entitlement to extension of time 

This is the first of the core principles dealing 

with another area fraught with practical difficulty 

i.e. concurrent delay 22 . It stipulates that where 

Contractor Delay to completion occurs or has effect 

concurrently with Employer Delay to completion, 

the Contractor’s concurrent delay should not reduce 

any extension of time due. 

■ Core Principle 10: Concurrent Delay – its 

effect on entitlement to compensation for 

prolongation 

Core Principle 10 addresses the situation where 

the Contractor incurs additional costs due to 

prolongation in two different scenarios, namely: 

● If these are caused both by Employer Delay and 

concurrent Contractor Delay, then the Contractor 

should only recover compensation to the extent 

that it is able to separately identify the additional 

costs caused by the Employer Delay from those 

caused by the Contractor Delay; 

● If the Contractor would have incurred the 

additional costs in any event as a result of 

Contractor Delay(s), the Contractor will then be 

not entitled to recover these additional costs 23 . 

■ Core Principle 11: Identification of float and 

concurrency 

Herein is stipulated the essence of the entire 

analysis i.e. accurate identification of float and 

concurrency is only possible with the benefit of a 

proper programme, properly updated. 

■ Core Principle 12: After the event delay 

analysis 

The instant core principle is concerned with 

the retrospective delay analysis by an adjudicator, 

judge or arbitrator. In such a situation, the protocol 

recommends that, in deciding entitlement to 

extension of time, the adjudicator, judge or arbitrator 

should so far as is practicable, put him or herself 

in the position of the contract administrator at the 

time the Employer Risk Event occurred 24 . 

■ Core Principle 13: Mitigation of delay and 

mitigation of loss 

Lays down the recommended principles pertaining 

to the Contractor’s general duty to mitigate the effect 

18. i.e. Core Principle 8. 

19. The term ‘float’ is defined in Appendix A p56 of The SCL 


20. being a date earlier than the Contract Completion date. 

21. and therefore no entitlement to an extension of time. 

22. Being defined in Appendix A p55 of The SCL Protocol. 

23. See also Guidance Section 1.10.1 & 1.10.4 p22 & 23 of 

The SCL Protocol. 

24. For further application see Section 4.19 p49 of The SCL 

Protocol.

THE INGENIEUR ENGINEERING & LAW 29 

on its works of Employer Risk Events; these being 

namely: 

● Unless the contract stipulates expressly to 

the contrary, the duty to mitigate does not 

extend to requiring the Contractor to add 

extra resources or to work outside its planned 

working hours; and 

● The Contractor’s duty to mitigate its loss has 

two aspects i.e. 

(a) It must take reasonable steps to minimize 

its losses; and 

(b) It must not take unreasonable steps that 

increase its loss. 

■ Core Principle 14: Link between extension 

of time and compensation 

Core Principle 14 nullifies the commonly held 

belief among Contractors/Sub-contractors that 

there is a link between extension of time and 

compensation by stipulating that an entitlement to 

extension of time does not automatically lead to 

entitlement to compensation and vice versa. 

■ Core Principle 15: Valuation of Variations 

Core Principle 15 addresses the consequential 

effects of variations in terms of cost and time 

impact on the contract. It advises that where 

practicable, the total likely effect of variations 

should be pre-agreed between the Employer 25 and 

the Contractor, to arrive, if possible at a fixed 

price of a variation, an agreed extension of time 

and the necessary revisions to the programme. 

The fixed price agreed at should include not 

only the direct costs 26 but also the time-related 

costs 27 . 

■ Core Principle 16: Basis of calculation of 

compensation for prolongation 

The instant principle outlines the basis of the 

calculation of compensation for prolongation to 

ensure that the ultimate goal is met i.e. to put 

the Contractor money-wise in the same position it 

would have been if the Employer Risk Event had 

not occurred. To achieve this end, Core Principle 

16 recommends that unless the contract expressly 

stipulates to the contrary 28 , compensation for 

prolongation should not be paid for anything 

other than. 

(a) Work actually done; and/or 

(b) Time actually taken up; and/or 

(c) Loss and/or expense actually suffered 

Putting it simply, it re-emphasises the 

proposition that compensation for prolongation 

caused other than by variations should be based 

on the actual additional cost incurred by the 

Contractor. 

■ Core Principle 17: Relevance of tender 

allowances 

In tandem with Core Principle 16, since the 

Contractor is entitled only to its actual costs of 

the prolongation or disruption, tender allowances 

have limited relevance for the evaluation of costs 

of prolongation and disruption caused by breach 

of contract or any other cause that requires the 

evaluation of additional costs 29 . 

■ Core Principle 18: Principle for evaluation 

of compensation 

Core Principle 18 attempts to lay to rest 

commonly used arguments as to the actual time 

when recoverable prolongation compensation 

should be assessed. In formulating a suitable 

answer, the Protocol lays down the following 

recommended procedure 30 : 

● Liability for compensation must first be 

established by showing that the prolongation 

has been caused by an Employer Risk Event; 

and 

● Once it is established that compensation for 

prolongation is due, the evaluation of the 

sum due should be made by reference to 

the period when the effect of the Employer 

Risk Event was felt, not by reference to the 

extended period at the end of the Contract. 

■ Core Principle 19: Global Claims 

This core principle concerns the particular 

form of some claims going under the label of 

25. or Contract Administrator. 

26. e.g. labour, plant, material, etc. 

27. e.g. extended preliminaries, etc. 

28. e.g. by evaluation based on contract rates. 

29. See also Guidance Section 1.9.1 p21 of The SCL 


30. See also Guidance Section 1.11.1 p23 & 24 of The SCL 

Protocol.


THE INGENIEUR 

‘global claims’ 31 . The Protocol discourages such 

claims; calling these an uncommon practice. In 

the process, it gives effect to the contemporary 

legal position whereby such claims are rarely 

accepted by the Courts. 

■ Core Principle 20: Acceleration 

The Protocol addresses the following aspects 

of acceleration 

● Where the contract expressly permits 

acceleration, payment for the acceleration 

should be based on the applicable express 

term(s) of the Contract; 

● In the event that the contract does not 

expressly provide for acceleration but the 

parties agree that accelerative measures should 

be taken, the basis of payment should be 

agreed before the acceleration is commenced; 

and 

● The Protocol does not recommend claims 

going under the label of “constructive 

acceleration”. Instead, it advises, that prior 

to any acceleration measures being initiated, 

steps should be taken by either party to have 

the dispute or difference about entitlement to 

extension of time to be resolved in accordance 

with the dispute resolution procedures 

stipulated in the particular contract 32 . 

■ Core Principle 21: Disruption 33 

Defines and distinguishes disruption from 

delay. If caused by the Employer, the Protocol 

recommends that it may give rise to a right to 

compensation either under the Contract or as a 

breach of contract. 

III. Guidance Notes 

In its introduction to this portion of the 

document, the Protocol states 34 : 

These are guidelines to explain the Protocol’s 

position on Core Principles relating to delay 

and compensation. This section also contains 

additional material on other matters that come 

up repeatedly in delay claims. It is not 

intended that these Guidance Notes should be 

incorporated into a contract. The structure of 

this section is to restate the core statements of 

principle from the Protocol and then explain or 

expand on them. 

The Guidance Notes are set out in the 

following order: 

● Guidance Section 1 35 

Gives guidance as to why the Protocol takes 

the position it does on the recurring Core 

Principles it deals with. It also contains 

additional material on other matters that 

come up repeatedly in delay claims; 


Represents a good practice guide on the 

preparation of work programmes and records, 

and their subsequent use for the management 

of extensions of time to contracts; 


Constitutes a good practice guide on how 

to deal with extension of time applications 

during the currency or course of a contract; 

and 


Provides valuable guidance as to how to 

analyse causes of and responsibility for delay 

where a project has been delayed, and the 

analysis is only conducted after the project 

is completed i.e. retrospectively. 

IV. Appendices 

The appendices supplement the Core 

Principles and the Guidance Notes with 

additional information so as to render the 

document as complete as practicable. These 

comprise the following: 

31. See also Appendix A at p56. Also called “Unparticularised” 

or “Rolled-Up Claims” or “Composite Claims” Ir. Harbans 

Singh K.S. ‘Engineering and Construction Contracts 

Management: Post-Commencement Practice” at p874 to 

877. 

32. See also Guidance Section 1.18 p30 & 31 of The SCL 


33. See definition in Appendix A p55 of The SCL Protocol. 

34. See p10 of The SCL Protocol. 

35. See p10 to 34 of The SCL Protocol. 



38. See p46 to 49 of The SCL Protocol.


31 

● Appendix A: Definitions and glossary 39 

…. Provides explanations for words and 

expressions commonly used in situations where 

there has been delay to or disruption of a 

construction project. Not all the terms contained 

in the Appendix are to be found in the Protocol 

….; 

● Appendix B: Model Specification Clause 40 

As is aptly stated … the model clause has 

been drafted to be included in the specification 

section of a project’s tender documents. The 

requirements are intended to be suitable for large 

complex projects. However, the principles of the 

requirements represent good practice and should 

be applied to smaller projects where practicable. 

The words in the model clause will need to be 

reviewed and amended to ensure that the terms 

and terminology used are consistent with the 

conditions of contract and/or agreement for the 

project …..; 

● Appendix C: Model Records Clause 41 

The introduction to this Appendix C stipulates: 

The following model clauses have been drafted 

to be included in the specifications of a project’s 

tender documents (or in the Contract Conditions 

if the parties choose). Clause 1 is intended to 

be suitable for small projects and Clause 2 for 

medium to high value or medium to highly complex 

projects. Clause 2 could also be used in part on 

smaller projects, and the Employer could treat 

the list as a menu of potential documents that it 

would like to be submitted, depending on its level 

of risk, administrative staff and facilities”; and 

● Appendix D: Graphics illustrating points in this 

Protocol 42 

Sets out in Figures 1 to 9 illustrations of 

principles and practice set out in the Protocol. 

Limitations/Criticism Of The Protocol 

Though the publication of The SCL Protocol has 

been welcomed by the construction industry with 

open arms and much accolades, it has nevertheless 

been subject to considerable scrutiny and criticism 

by a host of authorities who advise practitioners 

to adopt it with caution. One such authority is 

Carnell, who in his text entitled ‘Causation and 

Delay in Construction Disputes’ opines 43 : 

….. although the Protocol contains a wealth of 

useful material and some helpful guidance, it does 

not really comprise a tool which can easily be used 

either to provide ready guidance in the management 

of delays as they occur over a project or for the 

resolution of disputes. This manifests itself in the 

growing practice of parties to disputes setting out 

in their submissions why they do not believe that 

the Protocol is applicable to the prevailing fact. 

The effect of this is often that, far from reducing 

the scope of disputes, the Protocol has actually 

introduced a further potential area of dissent. 

He then goes on further to list a number of 

practical concerns, which include, inter alia, the 

following 44 : 

● The Protocol’s aim of becoming a tool by which 

delay is measured is doubtful in the light of 

its failure to realize widespread acceptance by 

the Construction industry which, often than 

not, questions debate as to its applicability or 

particular sections of it; 

● The Protocol comprises a voluminous document 

containing ‘highly theoretical discussion of 

sometimes complex and abstract ideas’. It 

therefore defeats the main goal of the Protocol 

being recognized by the Construction Industry 

as the best means of dealing with delay and 

disruption issues; 

● On a closer examination, the Protocol is not 

of much practical use to Sub-contractors and 

Sub-sub-contractors who in terms of numbers 

represent a significant proportion of the 

Construction industry; 

● The suggestion by the Protocol that there is a 

right approach to certain legal issues is a recipe 

for future contention and therefore dilutes its 

very goal of acceptance as the authority on these 

issues; 

● Not all of the core principles benefit from 

the accompanying guidance notes, the crossreferencing 

system is inadequate, etc. In short 

these compromise the clarity and effectiveness 

of the Protocol; and 





43. at p 218. 

44. See Carnell, N.J. “Causation and Delay in Construction 

Disputes” (2 nd Edn.) at p218 to 231.


THE INGENIEUR 

● The Protocol’s recommendations on issues such 

as programme and records, principles relating 

to delay and compensation and procedure for 

dealing with extensions of time both during 

and after the project, though laudable, have 

many practical shortcomings that have been 

merely ‘glossed over’ instead of being adequately 

addressed. This shortcoming leads credence to 

distractors who dismiss the Protocol as being 

merely ‘a short textbook or a lengthy essay’. 

Carnell sums up this review of the Protocol and 

its shortcomings with the following brief write-up 

summing up his thoughts 45 : 

There is no doubt that the Protocol contains 

much valuable advice. Unfortunately, as presently 

constituted it is not a document which provides a 

code capable of being adopted by the industry as 

a whole and used as a generally accepted basis 

for dealing with change and delay. 

In particular, if the present document was to 

be reconstituted and divided so that the Protocol 

forms the core principles, with the remainder of the 

Protocol taking effect as a short discussion piece, 

it would be easier to see the Protocol being used 

widely. The section concerning the need to use 

properly constituted programme and to manage by 

reference to the programme is almost an end in 

itself and were the Protocol to be reconstituted to 

make this point alone, it would have more impact 

than the current document. 

It is suggested that this should be done in a 

way which encourages the parties to accept the 

wisdom in a way which encourages the parties to 

accept the wisdom of using a proper programme, 

rather than imposing an obligation to accept a 

programme and seeking to punish them in the 

event they do not. 

Conclusion 

For the Malaysian Construction industry, there is 

at the moment no document or recognized guidelines 

pertaining to the issue of delay and disruption. At 

the most we have the various contractual stipulations 

in the form of either the terms of the contract or 

specifications that deal with the said matters; often 

in the most basic or skeletal form. Even then, each 

contract administrator or contractor approaches the 

issue in question on a purely subjective basis or 

per, the ‘informal standard practice’ of the particular 

group or discipline to which it belongs. Hence, in 

short there is neither a recognized standard practice 

nor a best practice. This laissaiz-faire attitude does 

not auger well for the industry to be fair, transparent 

and ‘world class’ as often parroted by the industry 

leaders and concerned politicians. In view of the 

above, it is high time that this area of practice is 

revisited and the lacuna properly and professionally 

addressed. One such solution would be to look 

at the SCL Protocol and examine its suitability for 

possible adoption in Malaysia. Bearing in mind the 

various criticisms made against, the Protocol is still 

a valuable tool, ready-made and available ‘off-theshelf’ 

for our use i.e. if we are to decide so. Under 

the circumstances, we do have no other choice as 

it cannot be reasonably foreseen if ever, Malaysians 

have the resources and the political will to generate 

a better document. Hence, it is recommended 

that the SCL Protocol be thoroughly reviewed and 

adopted after having addressed suitably the criticisms 

levelled against it and amended it accordingly to 

suit the local conditions and culture. This should 

constitute, at the least, the first step in offering the 

Malaysian Construction Industry a document that 

can be recognized as a basis of standard practice 

and best practice. Here the professionals like 

engineers, architects and quantity surveyors have 

to work hand in hand with Employers, Contractors, 

Sub-Contractors and Suppliers to help realize this 

important facet of industry good practice. BEM 

REFERENCES 

● Brown, D. The NEC and JCT Contracts Claims 

Blackwell Publishing. 

● Carnell, N.J. Causation and Delay in 

Construction Disputes (2 nd Edn.), Blackwell 

Publishing. 

● Chappel, D. Building Contract Claims (4 th 

Edn.) Blackwell Publishing. 

● Davison, P. Evaluating Contract Claims 

Blackwell Publishing. 

● Ir. Harbans Singh K.S. Engineering and 

Construction Contracts Management: Post- 

Contract Award Practice Lexis-Nexis. 

● The Society of Construction Law Delay 

and Disruption Protocol 2002, SCL (Reprint 

2004). 

45. Ibid at p231.

THE INGENIEUR FEATURE 

33 

Building And Common Property 

(Maintenance And Management) 

Act 2007 

By Andrew Wong, Advocate & Solicitor, High Court of Malaya 

On April 12, 2007, the 

Building & Common 

Property (Maintenance 

& Management) Act 2007 

(BCPMMA) came into force 

in all States within Peninsular 

Malaysia. The main purpose 

of the Act is to provide for 

the proper maintenance and 

management of buildings and 

the common property, AFTER 

delivery of vacant possession by 

the developer to the purchasers 

AND BEFORE the management 

corporation comes into existence 

(the interim period) 1 . 

Vacant 

Possession 

Maintenance of building before BCPMMA 

Controller 

of Housing 

Contractual 

Period 

Developer 

Each State Authority will 

appoint a Commissioner of 

Buildings (the Commissioner) 

to administer and carry out the 

provisions of the BCPMMA 2 . 

Unless otherwise stated 

reference to section of an 

enactment in this paper and the 

footnotes, refers to sections in the 

BCPMMA. 

Illustrations of the maintenance 

and management of a building 

before and after the BCPMMA 

are shown in Illustration No. 1, 

Illustration No. 2 and Illustration 

No. 3. 

MC comes 

into existence 

Initial Period 

MC managed 

by developer 

Illustration 1 

Director 

First Meeting 

of MC 

Scope of the BCPMMA 

The BCPMMA is intended 

to apply to any building or 

land intended for subdivision 

into parcels, and which have 

been developed for the purpose 

of accommodation, including 

accommodation for commercial 

and industrial use 3 . 

In line with the recent 

amendments made to the Strata 

1 S. 4(1). 

2 S. 3(1). 

3 S. 2 - definition of “developer”. 

Final 

MC managed 

by elected 

council

34 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Titles Act, 1985 (Act 318), 

which now allows land to be 

subdivided into land parcels to 

be held under separate strata 

titles, the BCPMMA will also 

apply to prescribed buildings on 

such land. 

It is pertinent to note that 

the BCPMMA defines common 

property, more exhaustively than 

Act 318 and the Schedule H 

agreement under the Housing 

Development (Control & 

Flow chart showing the interim period 

under BCPMMA 

Commencement 

Vacant 

Possession 

Developer JMB 

Establishment 

of JMB 

Interim Final 


First Meeting 

of MC 

Organisation chart 

COMMISSIONER OF BUILDING 

Licensing) Regulations 1989 

(Schedule H). 

In Act 318, common property 

means so much of the lot as is 

not comprised in any parcel 4 . 

Schedule H extended this 

definition to include lifts, refuse 

chutes, drains, sewers, pipes, 

wires, cables, ducts and all 

facilities and installations used in 

common by all purchasers 5 . 

Common property in the 

BCPMMA is now extended to 

MC managed 

by elected 

council 

Delivery of vacant possession Interim Final 

Developer JMB 

MC 


include, all structural elements 

of the building, stairs, stairways, 

fire escapes, entrances and exits, 

corridors, lobbies, exterior of all 

common parts of the building, 

playing fields and recreational 

areas, walls and fences 6 . 

4 S. 4 of Act 318 - definition of 

“common property”. 

5 Clause 35(c) of Schedule H, 1989 

Regulations. 

6 S. 2 - definition of “common 

property”.


35 

Joint Management Body 

During the interim period, the 

common property of any building 

or land intended for sub-division 

shall be in the hands of a Joint 

Management Body, which shall 

comprise the developer and the 

purchasers 7 . Up until now, the 

maintenance and management 

of a building intended to be subdivided 

and the common property 

(hereinafter referred to as the 

maintenance works), have always 

been the responsibility of the 

developer until the management 

corporation is established under 

Act 318. 

The Joint Management Body 

is a body corporate, having a 

common seal, and therefore can 

sue and be sued in its name 8 . 


shall be deemed to be dissolved 

three months from date of the 

first meeting of the management 

corporation 9 . 

The duties of the Joint 

Management Body are, amongst 

others, to: 

● maintain the common property 

and keep it in good serviceable 

repair; 

● fix and impose charges for the 

maintenance works; 

● insure the building and apply 

insurance moneys received for 

rebuilding and reinstatement; 

● prepare and maintain a register 

of all purchasers; 

● ensure that the Building 

Maintenance Fund is audited 

and provide financial 

statements to purchasers; and 

● enforce house rules 10 . 

The Joint Management Body is 

empowered to: 

● collect maintenance charges 

from purchasers; 

● authorise expenditure for 

carrying out the maintenance 

works; 

● recover monies due from 

purchasers; 

● acquire property for use by 

purchasers in connection with 

the common property; 

● secure the services of a person 

to undertake the maintenance 

works; and 

● make house rules 11 . 

If the development is 

completed before April 12, 2007, 

and vacant possession has been 

delivered to the purchasers and the 

management corporation is not in 

existence, the Joint Management 

Body must be established not 

later than April 11, 2008 12 . 

However, if the development 

is completed on or after April 12, 

2007, then the Joint Management 

Body shall be formed not later 

than 12 months from the date of 

delivery of vacant possession of 

the parcels to the purchasers 13 . 

There are no provisions in 

the BCPMMA to define when a 

development is completed. In line 

with the recent amendments to 

the Street, Drainage and Building 

Act, 1974 (Act 133), completion 

should mean the issue of the 

relevant certificate of completion 

and compliance. 

It is the duty of the developer 

to convene the first meeting of 

all purchasers within the time 

frame set out above 14 . If the 

developer fails to convene this 

first meeting, the developer 

commits an offence and shall on 

conviction, be liable to a fine 

not exceeding RM20,000, or 

to imprisonment for a term not 

exceeding three months or to 

both 15 . Further, if the developer 

fails to convene this first meeting, 

the Commissioner may appoint 

a person to convene the first 

meeting 16 . 

Until the Joint Management 

Body is established, the developer 

is responsible for the maintenance 

works 17 , and this includes the 

responsibility to insure the 

building against fire and other 

risks 18 . 

First Meeting of the Joint 

Management Body 

At its first meeting, the Joint 

Management Body shall elect a 

Joint Management Committee, 

and then confirm the taking 

over of insurances effected by 

developer, determine the amount 

to be paid by purchasers to the 

Building Maintenance Fund for 

the maintenance works, determine 

the rate of interest for late payment 

of charges and make decisions on 

any other matter connected with 

the maintenance works 19 . 

The quorum for the first 

meeting shall be one quarter 

of the purchasers who have 

paid maintenance charges to a 

Building Maintenance Account 20 . 

Only purchasers who have paid 

maintenance charges to the 

Building Maintenance Account 

are members entitled to vote. 

It would appear that the 

developer is not to be included in 

the determination of the quorum 

and is also not a person entitled 

to vote. 

It is not clear whether: 

(a) a purchaser is entitled to 

vote if he had previously paid 

maintenance charges to the 

Building Maintenance Account, 

but is at the time of the first 

meeting in arrears; or 

(b) a purchaser who has not 

paid maintenance charges to the 

Building Maintenance Account is 

entitled to attend the meeting or be 

elected to the Joint Management 

Committee, even though he is not 

entitled to vote. 

If, within half an hour of the 

time fixed for the first meeting, 

no quorum is present, then 

the members entitled to vote 

7 S. 4(4). 

8 S. 4(2) and 4(3). 

9 S. 15(1). 

10 S. 8(1). 

11 S. 8(2). 

12 S. 4(1)(a). 

13 S. 4(1)(b). 

14 S. 5(1).15 S. 5(5). 

16 S. 5(3). 

17 S. 5(4). 

18 S. 17(4). 

19 S. 6(1). 

20 S. 6(2).

36 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

who are present shall form the 

quorum 21 . Further, if after one 

hour, no member entitled to vote 

turns up or all members present 

refuse to be members of the 

Joint Management Committee, 

the meeting cannot take place, 

and the developer is required to 

inform the Commissioner within 

the next seven days of the illfated 

meeting. The Commissioner 

may then appoint a new date for 

the first meeting or appoint a 

managing agent to maintain the 

common property 22 . 

All resolutions at the first 

meeting shall be decided by a 

show of hands. Joint purchasers 

(e.g. husband and wife) are 

not entitled to vote except by 

a jointly appointed proxy 24 . 

However there are no express 

provisions for a purchaser who is 

a corporation, to appoint a proxy 

or a representative, to attend the 

first meeting and to vote. 

If the first meeting is 

successful, then within 28 

days thereafter, the Joint 

Management Body shall inform 

the Commissioner of the name 

of the Joint Management Body, 

and register its name with the 

Commissioner 25 . 

Annual General Meeting 

The annual general meeting 

of the Joint Management Body 

shall be held once a year and not 

more than 15 months shall elapse 

between date of one annual 

general meeting and the next 26 . 

The agenda is to consider the 

Building Maintenance Fund and 

transact such other businesses as 

may arise 27 . 

Extraordinary General 

Meeting 

An extraordinary general 

meeting may be convened by 

the Joint Management Body, 

upon requisition in writing made 

by persons who are registered as 

purchasers of at least one-quarter 

of the total number of parcels 28 , 

or when the Joint Management 

Body receives a direction from 

the Commissioner to transact 

a particular business 29 , or on 

such other occasion as the Joint 

Management Body thinks fit 30 . 

The Commissioner may 

himself, authorise any purchaser 

to convene an extraordinary 

general meeting if he is satisfied 

that the Joint Management Body 

was not properly constituted 31 . 


although the Act made provisions 

for rules to regulate the first 

meeting of the JMB, there are 

no provisions on how an AGM 

or EGM is to be conducted and 

it is not clear whether the rules 

on quorum and voting rights for 

the first meeting of the JMB will 

apply to an AGM or EGM. 

Joint Management 

Committee 

The duties and powers of the 

Joint Management Body are to 

be performed and exercised by a 

Joint Management Committee 32 , 

who shall be elected by the 

Joint Management Body at its 

first meeting, and thereafter at its 

annual general meeting. 

The Joint Management 

Committee shall consist of the 

developer and not less than 

five and not more than 12 

purchasers 33 . A purchaser who is 

elected to the Joint Management 

Committee can only hold office 

for a period not exceeding three 

years or until the dissolution of 

the Joint Management Body when 

the management corporation 

comes into existence. 

A chairman, a secretary and 

a treasurer shall be elected 

from members of the Joint 

Management Committee 34 . Since 

the developer is a member of the 

Joint Management Committee, its 

representative can be elected to 

any of the above three positions. 

Proceedings of the Joint 

Management Committee are 

regulated by the First Schedule of 

the BCPMMA and it is pertinent 

to note that the developer has 

a vote in the Joint Management 

Committee, even though the 

developer may not have a right 

to vote at the first meeting of 

the Joint Management Body. A 

member elected shall continue 

to be a member of the Joint 

Management Committee until he 

resigns, dies, becomes a bankrupt 

or is no longer a purchaser 35 . 

Once elected, a member of the 

Joint Management Committee is 

expected to devote as much time 

as is necessary to discharge his 

duty effectively 36 . 

Register of Purchasers 

The BCPMMA provides for the 

developer or the Joint Management 

Body, as the case may be, to 

maintain a register containing the 

following particulars in respect 

of all parcels in the development 

area 37 : 

● allocated share unit assigned 

to each parcel; 

● floor area of the parcel; 

● name and address of every 

purchaser; 

● name and address of solicitor 

acting for the purchaser; and 

● number of parcels unsold. 

Rights of purchasers 

A purchaser or a person who 

is a prospective purchaser may 

apply to the Joint Management 

Body for a certificate 38 , certifying 

the: 

21 S. 6(3). 

22 S. 6(7). 

23 S. 6(4). 

24 S. 6(5). 

25 S. 7(1). 

26 S. 9(2). 

27 S. 9(1). 

28 S. 10(2)(a). 

29 S. 10(2)(b). 

30 S. 10(2)(c). 

31 S. 10(3). 

32 S. 11(1). 

33 S. 11(2). 

34 S. 11(3). 

35 Paragraph 2(1) of First Schedule. 

36 Paragraph 11 of First Schedule. 

37 S. 12. 

38 S. 13.


37 

● amount of charges payable by 

a purchaser; 

● time and payment of the 

charges; 

● extent, if any, to which charges 

have been paid; 

● amount, if any, recoverable 

by Joint Management Body in 

respect of the parcel; 

● the sum standing in the credit 

of the Building Maintenance 

Fund and the sum committed 

or reserved for expenses 

already incurred; 

● nature of repairs and estimated 

expenditure where the Joint 

Management Body has 

incurred any expenditure or is 

about to perform any repairs 

or work in respect of which a 

liability is likely to be incurred 

by the purchaser of the parcel; 

and 

● amount paid or to be paid 

by the developer for unsold 

units. 

House Rules 

The Joint Management Body is 

required to keep a record of house 

rules which are in force from time 

to time 39 . If a purchaser applies 

for a copy of such house rules, 

the Joint Management Body shall 

furnish a copy to such purchaser, 

at a reasonable cost 40 . Further 

the Joint Management Body is 

required to make such house 

rules available for inspection to 

any person who satisfies the Joint 

Management Body that he has a 

proper interest in so applying 41 . 

A certified true copy of the 

house rules and any amendments 

thereto, under the seal of the 

Joint Management Body, are 

required to be lodged by the 

Joint Management Body with the 


Dissolution of the Joint 

Management Body 


shall be deemed to be dissolved 

three months from the date of 


corporation 43 . However, within 

one month after first meeting of 

the management corporation, 


required to hand over to the 

management corporation, the 

house rules, the audited accounts 

of the Building Maintenance 

Fund, or if such accounts have 

not been audited, the un-audited 

accounts, all assets and liabilities 

of the Joint Management Body, 

and all records related to and 

necessary for maintenance of 

building and common property 44 . 

If only the un-audited accounts 

have been handed over, the Joint 

Management Body is required to 

hand over to the management 

corporation the audited accounts 

of the Joint Management Body not 

later than three months after the 


corporation 45 . 

If the Joint Management 

Body fails to comply with these 

provisions on handover, every 

member of the Joint Management 

Body commits an offence which 

is punishable with a fine of 

not more than RM10,000, and 

a further fine of not more than 

RM1,000, for every day during 

which the offence is continued, 

unless the member of the Joint 

Management Body proves that 

the offence was committed 

without his knowledge, consent 

or connivance and that he had 

taken all reasonable precautions 

and had exercised due diligence 

to prevent the commission of the 

offence 46 . 

It is difficult to understand the 

rationale to punish every member 

of the Joint Management Body 

(which means the developer and 

all the purchasers), when such 

matters are actually under the 

management and control of the 

Joint Management Committee. 

Building Maintenance 

Account and the Building 

Maintenance Fund 

The Building Maintenance 

Account is an account operated 

by the developer before the Joint 

Management Body is formed 47 . 

When the Joint Management Body 

is formed, any surplus moneys 

in the Building Maintenance 

Account shall be transferred to a 

fund to be known as the Building 

Maintenance Fund, which shall 

be maintained, administered 

and controlled by the Joint 

Management Body 48 . 

If the development is 

completed after April 12, 2007, 

it is very clear that the BCPMMA 

requires the developer to open a 


in the name of the development 

area, before delivery of vacant 

possession to the purchasers 49 . 

Each development area shall have 

a separate Building Maintenance 

Account 50 . 

The developer shall deposit 

into the Building Maintenance 

Account, all maintenance charges 

received from purchasers, and all 

maintenance charges to be paid 

by the developer for parcels which 

have not been sold 51 . The charges 

to be paid by the developer shall 

be of the same amount as that 

payable by the purchasers had 

the parcels been sold 52 . 

Before the BCPMMA, there 

was uncertainty as to whether a 

developer is required to contribute 

maintenance charges for unsold 

units. Now, the developer’s duty 

to pay such charges is very clear, 

and if the developer fails to 

comply, the developer commits 

an offence and may be liable 

to a fine of an amount between 

RM10,000 and RM100,000, and 

to a further fine of up to RM1,000 

for every day during which the 

offence is continued 53 . 

39 S. 14(1)(a). 

40 S. 14(1)(b). 

41 S. 14(1)(c). 

42 S. 14(2). 

43 S. 15(1). 

44 S. 15(2)(a). 

45 S. 15(2)(b). 

46 S. 15(3) and 15(4). 

47 S. 16(1) and 16(3). 

48 S. 22. 

49 S. 16(1). 

50 S. 16(2). 

51 S. 17(1). 

52 S. 17(1). 

53 S. 17(7).

38 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

The Act specifically prohibits 

any person from collecting any 

charges from any purchaser for 

maintenance or management, 

unless the Building Maintenance 

Account has been opened in the 

name of the development area 

and vacant possession has been 

delivered to the purchaser 54 . 

If the development was 

completed on or before April 

12, 2007, and the developer 

has immediately before that 

day been collecting charges for 

maintenance from purchasers, the 

developer may continue to do so 

until the Joint Management Body 

has been established 55 . Since the 

developer is still responsible for 

the maintenance of the building 

and the common property until 


established, one would expect 

that most developers will continue 

to collect such charges from the 

purchasers. 

The question is whether, after 

April 12, 2007, such charges 

collected by the developer are 

required to be deposited into the 

Building Maintenance Account. 

From a reading of relevant 

provisions in the BCPMMA, it 

would appear that if the developer 

continues to collect maintenance 

charges after April 12, 2007 until 


formed, these maintenance charges 

are required to be deposited by 

the developer into the Building 

Maintenance Account. Hence the 

developer is required to open the 


immediately and deposit all 

maintenance charges collected 

from the purchasers into the 


within two working days of 

receipt. At the same time the 

developer is also required to pay 

into the Building Maintenance 

Account, all maintenance charges 

for parcels which have not been 

sold. 

Moneys in the Building 

Maintenance Account shall not 

be deemed to form part of the 

property of the developer in the 

event of insolvency and some 

sort of a statutory trust has been 

created by the BCPMMA over 

such moneys 56 . 

The developer is required 

to keep proper accounts of the 


and to appoint a professional 

auditor to audit the Building 

Maintenance Account annually 57 . 

A copy of the audited accounts 

and the auditor’s report is 

required to be filed with the 

Commissioner within 14 days 

after the accounts have been 

audited 58 . The Commissioner 

shall have full and free access to 

all records relating to the Building 

Maintenance Account 59 . 

Developer to account for all 

moneys collected prior to 

April 12, 2007 

In addition, any developer 

of a development which has 

been completed but for which 

a management corporation 

has not been established, shall 

not later than six months from 

April 12, 2007, submit to the 

Commissioner, an account 

audited by an auditor, of all 

moneys collected and expended 

for the purposes of maintenance 

and management, and sinking 

fund (if any) prior to April 12, 

2007 60 . Failure to do so will 

render the developer liable to a 

fine of not less than RM10,000 

but not more than RM100,000 or 

to imprisonment for a term not 

exceeding one year or to both 61 . 

Building Maintenance Fund 


Fund shall consist of maintenance 

charges imposed by or payable to 

the Joint Management Body, and 

all other moneys received by the 

Joint Management Body, under 

whatever circumstances 62 . 


Fund shall be used for purposes 

of repairing and maintaining the 

common property, and is a fund 

to be maintained, administered 

and controlled by the Joint 

Management Body. 

Presumably, once the 

surplus moneys in the Building 

Maintenance Account (if any) are 

transferred by the developer to the 

Building Maintenance Account, 

the developer may close the 

Building Maintenance Account. 

Payment of maintenance 

charges 

Every purchaser is liable to pay 

the charges for the maintenance 

and management of the common 

property and the amount shall 

be determined by the Joint 

Management Body in proportion 

to the allocated share units 63 . 

A developer who continues to 

collect charges before the Joint 

Management Body is formed may 

continue to collect such amount 

that has been determined by the 

developer 64 . 

Payment is to be made within 

14 days of receiving a written 

notice requesting for payment, 

which must be supported by 

a statement of charges issued 

by the developer or the Joint 

Management Body, as the case 

may be 65 . If at the end of the 

fourteen days period, payment 

is not made by the purchaser, 

the Joint Management Body 

may impose interest for payment 

interest provided that the rate of 

interest shall not exceed 10% per 

annum 66 . 

Where maintenance charges 

become recoverable by the Joint 

Management Body, the Joint 

Management Body may institute 

legal proceedings in any court 

54 S. 20(1)(a) and 20(1)(b). 

55 S. 20(2). 

56 S. 19. 

57 S. 17(2). 

58 S. 17(2)(c). 

59 S. 17(2)(d). 

60 S. 21(1). 

61 S. 21(3). 

62 S. 22(2). 

63 S. 23(1) and 23(2). 

64 S. 20(2). 

65 S. 23(3) and 23(4). 

66 S. 23(5).


39 

having jurisdiction, to recover the 

amount due to them, after having 

given to the defaulting purchaser 

the requisite notices 67 . 

Further, if the amount of 

charges payable is in arrears for 

six months, the Commissioner 

may be requested by the Joint 

Management Body to issue a 

warrant of attachment authorising 

attachment of any moveable 

property belonging to the 

purchaser which may be found 

in the parcel or elsewhere within 

the local authority area 68 . 

The warrant of attachment shall 

be executed by an officer from 

the Commissioner’s office and he 

may effect forcible entry 69 . 

If arrears and collection 

charges are not paid within 

seven days of the attachment, the 

property attached may be sold by 

public auction and the amount 

recovered from the auction, after 

deduction of collection charges, 

shall be deposited into the 

Building Maintenance Fund 70 . 

Any surplus from the auction 

shall be paid to the person who 

at the time of attachment was in 

possession of the property 71 . 

All the provisions relating to 

payment and recovery of charges 

refer only to payment to be made 

by the purchasers and there 

are no provisions for recovery 

from a developer who fails to 

pay charges for unsold units. A 

warrant of attachment may not be 

issued against a developer who is 

in arrears, as only a purchaser’s 

movable property can be attached. 

Failure or refusal to pay is 

now a statutory offence 

Any person who, without 

reasonable excuse, fails or 

refuses to pay maintenance and 

management charges shall be 

liable to a fine not exceeding 

RM5,000 and a further fine 

not exceeding RM50 for every 

day during which the offence 

is continued after conviction 72 . 

However, what may constitute 

a reasonable excuse not to pay 

remains to be seen. 

Apart from the above statutory 

offence, if the developer fails 

to pay maintenance charges for 

unsold units, he is liable for an 

additional offence 73 , under which 

he may be liable to pay a fine 

of not less than RM10,000 but 

not more than RM100,000, and 

a further fine not exceeding 

RM1,000 for every day during 

which the offence is continued. 

Managing Agent 

The Commissioner has the 

power to appoint a managing 

agent to maintain and manage 

the building or land intended for 

sub-division and the common 

property, in the event that all 

the members present at the first 

meeting of the Joint Management 

Body refuse to be members of the 

Joint Management Committee 74 , 

or if the Commissioner is 

satisfied, after due inquiry, 

that the developer or the Joint 

Management Body is not 

maintaining or managing the 

building satisfactorily 75 . 

The managing agent shall 

have control of all moneys in the 


or the Building Maintenance 

Fund, as the case may be, and 

all moneys received by him 

shall be paid into the Building 

Maintenance Account or the 

Building Maintenance Fund, as 

the case may be 76 . 

He shall perform all the duties 

and exercise the powers as if he 

was acting as the developer or the 

Joint Management Body, including 

giving notice to the purchasers 

to pay maintenance charges 

and instituting proceedings to 

recover outstanding charges 77 . 

The remuneration or fees of the 

managing agent shall be charged 

to the Building Maintenance 

Account or the Building 

Maintenance Fund, as the case 

may be 78 . 

A person shall not be appointed 

as a managing agent if he has a 

professional or pecuniary interest 

in the property 79 and he shall be 

regarded as having a professional 

or pecuniary interest, if he has 

been responsible for the design 

and construction, or he or his 

nominees, officers or employees 

has any material interest in the 

property, or he is a partner or is 

in the employment of a person 

who has a material interest, or he 

or his family holds any interest 

in the building or land 80 . 

A managing agent is required 

to lodge a bond with the 

Commissioner, to make good any 

loss caused by him as a result of 

his failure to account for moneys 

received or held by him 81 . If he 

fails to pay moneys into Building 

Maintenance Account or the 

Building Maintenance Fund, or 

if he fails to submit requisite 

statements to the Commissioner, 

he commits an offence and may 

be liable to a fine not exceeding 

RM10,000, or to imprisonment 

for a term not exceeding two 

years, or to both 82 . 

Developer to pay deposit to 

rectify defects on common 

property 

The appointment of a 

managing agent does not relieve 

the developer of his obligation to 

carry out repairs to the common 

property or make good defects 

in the common property, during 

the defects liability period, 

and the developer still has the 

responsibility to carry out repairs 

and varied and additional works 

to ensure that development is 

constructed in accordance with 

67 S. 32. 

68 S. 33(1). 

69 S. 33(3) and 33(4). 

70 S. 33(7). 

71 S. 33(8). 

72 S. 34. 

73 S. 17(7). 

74 S. 25(1)(a). 

75 S. 25(1)(b). 

76 S. 28(1) and 28(3). 

77 S. 28(2) and S. 38(3). 

78 S. 25(3). 

79 S. 26(1). 

80 S. 26(2). 

81 S. 27. 

82 S. 28(5).

40 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

High rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur 

plans and specifications approved 

by the competent authority 83 . 

The BCPMMA now requires 

the developer to deposit (cash 

or bank guarantee) with the 

Commissioner such sum as shall 

be prescribed, for the purpose 

of carrying out works to rectify 

any defects in the common 

property after its completion 84 . 

This deposit shall be paid 

upon handing over of vacant 

possession to the purchasers 85 . 

Any unexpended deposit shall be 

refunded to developer on expiry 

of the defect liability period for 

the development area 86 . If the 

developer fails to comply, he can 

be punished with a fine of not 

more than RM5,000 and a further 

fine of not more than RM50 for 

every day during which offence 

is continued 87 . 

Power of entry 

The BCPMMA empowers the 

Commissioner to authorise any 

person to enter any building or 

land for purpose of carrying out 

inspection or investigation to 

determine whether any offence 

has been committed, and books, 

accounts or documents may be 

seized on such entry 88 . 

Entry is also permitted for the 

purpose of executing any works 

required by the local authority 89 . 

However, if a building or premises 

is occupied, no entry shall be 

permitted unless the occupier or 

a representative is present during 

the entry 90 . No private dwelling 

shall be entered upon except 

with consent of the purchaser or 

after giving 24 hours’ notice to 

the occupier 91 . 

In the case of any urgent 

repairs or works the Commissioner 

may, at all reasonable times enter 

any building 92 . The Act provides 

penal sanctions for anyone who 

assaults, obstruct hinders or 

delay entry authorised by the 


Other contracts and deeds 

no longer apply 

The provisions of any written 

law, contracts and deeds relating 

to maintenance and management 

of buildings and the common 

property, in so far as they are 

contrary to the provisions of the 

BCPMMA, shall cease to have 

effect 94 and the provisions of 

the BCPMMA shall have effect 

notwithstanding anything to 

the contrary contained in any 

agreement or contract entered 

into after the commencement of 

the BCPMMA 95 . 

Further, no agreement or 

contract entered into after 

commencement shall operate to 

annul, vary or exclude any of the 

provisions of the BCPMMA. BEM 

83 S. 29(a) and 29(b). 

84 S. 31(1). 

85 S. 31(2). 

86 S. 31(5). 

87 S. 31(6). 

88 S. 38(1)(a). 

89 S. 38(1)(b). 

90 S. 38(2). 

91 S. 38(3). 

92 S. 38(4). 

93 S. 38(5). 

94 S. 44. 

95 S. 45.


41 

PROFILE – 

The Malaysian Institute 

Of Arbitrators 

The Malaysian Institute of Arbitrators (MIArb) was established in 1991. The main goals and purposes of 

MIArb are : 

(1) to promote the facilities for the determination of disputes by the arbitration process; 

(2) to provide means of communications between members of the Institute and other bodies concerned 

with arbitration within the country or overseas; 

(3) to co-operate with other professional bodies having the same common interests in arbitration; 

(4) to provide training and educational facilities for members who are desirous of becoming arbitrators 

and to promote the study of the law and practice relating to arbitration, subject to the Education 

Act, 1961; 

(5) to arrange for and provide facilities for meetings, seminars, conferences and workshops and arrange 

for the reading and presentation of lectures and demonstrations of the arbitration proceedings; 

(6) to provide a wider knowledge of the practice and the law of arbitration; 

(7) to provide for the appointment of arbitrators for the settlement of disputes. 

Our MIArb Arbitration Rules (2005 Edition) are up-to-date and aim to overcome the common pitfalls of 

arbitration as well as ensuring fair and speedy disposal of disputes. The rationale of MIArb Arbitration 

rules include recognition of party autonomy; flexibility for modification or simplification of arbitration 

procedure to suit nature and extent of disputes; facilitating expeditions proceedings; deferment of case 

stated or challenge of interim awards/decisions until after the main award or substantive merits are made, 

yet preserving a party’s right to challenge an interlocutory decision or interim award. The MIArb Rules 

can be adapted for use in complex or simple arbitrations in different fields or industries. 

MIArb plans to extend its coverage to other forms of ADRs such as mediation, adjudication, etc. It is 

also MIArb’s plan in the long term to formulate its forms of contract for use by various industries and 

fields. 

MIArb publishes Newsletters regularly. These Newsletters contain among others, articles on topics 

relevant to arbitration. MIArb also organises Seminars and Workshops on topics relevant to arbitration 

and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). 

There are three categories of membership in MIArb namely, Associates, Members and Fellows. MIArb 

Fellows, the highest category of membership, comprises retired judges of the Superior Courts and active 

practicing arbitrators of extensive experience. Our distinguished Fellows are well known for their 

experience and impartiality. MIArb Members, the second category, comprises professionals from various 

disciplines who have hands-on experience in arbitration, whether in capacity as arbitrators, counsels, 

advisers or expert witnesses. Our Members and Associates are from a wide spectrum of professional 

disciplines, including architects, engineers, insurance brokers, lawyers, loss adjusters, quantity surveyors, 

valuers, etc. The wide spectrum of professionals in our membership offers much choice for arbitrating 

parties to appoint an arbitrator with the relevant expertise and experience. 

Fellows of MIArb are entitled to use the designation FMIArb, while the Members and Associates 

bear the designations MMIArb and AMIArb respectively. There is one-time Entrance Fee of RM250, 

Annual Subscription Fees for Fellow, Member and Associate categories are RM250, RM200 and RM150 

respectively.

42 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Dispute On Arbitrators, 

Advertising And Ethics 

By C.K. Khoo 

This paper was presented at the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration 

An Arbitrator Development Programme: January 22 - 23, 1992, revised January 2007 

The familiar tale of the three blind men 

each with his own unique description of an 

elephant may aptly apply to laymen’s notions 

of arbitration and arbitrators. They harbour feelings 

of respect, awe, admiration, envy, scepticism, 

cynicism or contempt, depending on the impressions 

gained from their personal encounters. 

Encounters however are relatively few and 

arbitration is not a feature of the average person’s 

experience, nor even that of the average practitioner 

of any profession, although most professionals have 

some degree of awareness of the subject and will 

quickly learn more about it when the need arises. 

Now all this might change and arbitrators might be 

poised to project themselves into the public eye, 

if one sector of the community prevails with its 

proposal to permit arbitrators to advertise. Some 

may react with disbelief, but self-styled avant 

garde are actively propounding that arbitration is 

no different from any other professional business, 

and should fall in line with modern thinking on 

permitting professionals to publicise their services 

for the benefit of those who need them and do not 

know where to turn. Given the benefit of doubt, an 

admirable samaritan act it could be, but it cannot 

be justified by such simplistic argument. Serious 

issues surface, and these go to the very roots of 

the ethics of arbitration and arbitrators. 

The office of arbitrator is commissioned only 

by appointment on a case-to-case basis and in the 

normal course of events expires upon publication 

of award in each case. In a wider sense the term 

‘arbitrator’ is often used to denote: 

(i) an appointed arbitrator who holds current 

office [hereinafter called “ARBITRATOR”]; 

(ii) one whose arbitral office has expired 

[hereinafter called “arbitrator”]; 

(iii) one who aspires to arbitral office [hereinafter 

called “arbitrator”]. 

The three categories are not mutually exclusive, 

and a person can be any or all of the three, at 

different times or all at the same time. The reason 

why I draw attention to such distinctions will 

become clear if you will bear with me. 

Disputes are hideous monsters some of us are 

forced to live with from time to time. Disputes 

and their resolution with or without ARBITRATOR 

or Court usually cause much stress to the parties 

and contribute nothing to real economic growth. 

They actually hamper real economic growth, as 

parties and their staff, advisors and experts are 

diverted from their normal production activities to 

attend to dispute resolution. Nonetheless, disputes 

need to be resolved. The engines of real economic 

growth are: Agriculture, Mining, Manufacturing 

and Services. No doubt dispute resolution may be 

considered a service but it is a unique service in 

the sense that it does not produce anything that 

adds to the economic growth of society, but merely 

transfers money from one pocket to another. Thus 

notwithstanding its usefulness to parties in dispute, 

it is erroneous (as sometimes propagated) to say 

that arbitration (or dispute resolution) is ‘a growing 

industry’. 

The mention of advertising reminds me of an 

arbitrator canvassing for appointment (because 

he had not enough arbitration ‘jobs’ to do?) and 

prompted someone to remark: 

I should hope that ARBITRATION is one of the 

last remaining noble callings. Arbitrators perform 

their duty when called upon to do so but we 

should not wish that there will be more disputes 

to arbitrate. 

Granted that disputes will arise independently 

of and not in answer to arbitrators’ prayers (if any 

- God forbid!), and that a would-be ARBITRATOR’s 

private thoughts and motives towards each new 

dispute that rears its ugly head are not exposed 

to public scrutiny, yet we must be sure that our 

conduct should not lead the public to think they 

detect signs of joy! If arbitrators do not conduct 

themselves with proper decorum it might provoke 

others to indulge in reverie: that it must be far 

more congenial to be arbitrating other people’s 

problems than to be beset by one’s own. The crux 

of the matter is that the public regard of arbitrators, 

ARBITRATORS and ARBITRATION should not be 

tarnished by any kind of negative publicity. I fear

THE INGENIEUR FEATURE 43 

that advertising by arbitrators, however ‘dignified’, 

could not but impress upon the public that the 

objective of such advertising is to tout for ‘jobs’ and 

promote lucrative ARBITRATION ‘practices’ and that 

justice may well be compromised in the pursuit of 

such objective. Perhaps some noble soul might rise 

above suspicion if he advertised to offer his services 

gratis or for just a nominal fee to meet his basic 

needs and expenses, but that is another story. 

I am not in favour of advertising by arbitrators. 

I firmly believe that it is inconsistent with the 

ethics of arbitration. In broad terms while ‘ethics’ 

means for most professionals that with every 

commission he undertakes he works himself out 

of the job at optimum benefit-cost to his client, 

for the arbitrator the standard is somewhat higher 

and he should wish that the odious events 

which call for his services would not happen too 

often if at all, let alone proffering his services 

in the market place! In other words, the ethics 

of arbitration requires that arbitrators shall be 

persons who uphold the kind of moral values 

which would make them ‘reluctant’ ARBITRATORS 

who answer the call only if they are deemed fit 

for service to resolve disputes that regrettably 

arise, and the same ethics disqualify ardent selfserving 

candidates. I recognize that such ideals 

are utopian and will be hard put to survive in 

the real utilitarian world but that does not mean 

that we should not keep them in sight (publicly) 

and in mind (privately) for at least, even though 

they may not be practised with religious fervour, 

they furnish guidelines that point the way towards 

some semblance of order. 

While acknowledging that some professions 

have assumed more liberal attitudes towards 

advertising, we should remember that after 

all ARBITRATORS are not in the same boat 

as Counsel (of legal or any other discipline), 

but rather they are auxiliary to judiciary, no 

less! The difference between a Judge and an 

ARBITRATOR is that the latter is usually one 

who has specialist technical skill in the subject 

matter of the dispute, practises in his specialised 

field and not in the Judiciary as a Judge does, 

but is ‘co-opted’ to temporary judiciary service 

if the occasion should ever arise for him to 

serve. It would not be proper for an arbitrator 

to advertise his availability or competence as a 

potential ARBITRATOR, anymore than it would 

be for anyone to publicly proffer himself as a 

potential Judge. Judges are remunerated for their 

services by the State and do not ask for fee from 

litigants. There is merit in structuring a similar 

system for arbitrators who see ARBITRATION as 

a full time calling thus allowing such arbitrators 

to make their arbitral services available within 

the framework of a public institution rather than 

through commercial enterprise. For the rest of our 

fraternity, let us continue to be called upon, for 

we are not (and should not be) in the habit of 

calling upon potential ARBITRATION ‘clients’. 

Scholarly research may show that there are 

laws which account for the orderly behaviour of 

arbitrators and arbitration. Meanwhile, not having 

applied the rigorous scientific methods required 

to test and establish laws, I would state several 

hypotheses: 

Hypothesis I: An arbitrator abhors disputes but 

enjoys resolving them. 

Hypothesis II: An arbitrator does not practise. 

(‘To practise’ being understood as 

“to operate a business offering and 

rendering professional services”) 

Hypothesis III: An arbitrator lives and thrives in 

a constant state of ‘non-practice’ 

and his office is activated for the 

duration he is appointed to resolve 

a dispute. 

Hypothesis IV: An arbitrator has no clients. 

Hypothesis V: Arbitration is not a commercial 

enterprise or an industry. 

Perhaps within such hypotheses, and others which 

are relevant, we might discover basic philosophies 

or tenets to guide us. It is a subject which merits 

diligent study by those who believe in arbitration 

as an institution for dispute resolution. 

While it behoves the individual arbitrator to 

keep a low profile, a disputant who needs to resort 

to arbitration for the first time may well ask: “where 

can I find a suitable arbitrator?” This question can 

be answered by any of the arbitral or professional 

institutions such as RCAKL, MIArb, IEM, PAM, ISM, 

etc. Such institutions may publicize their role as 

bodies for referral whenever ARBITRATION services 

are required. Each institution should maintain a 

computerised list of members with particulars of 

their professional qualifications and specialized 

fields of experience. When a referral is made 

to the institution the computer records will be 

searched and a list made of the most appropriate 

persons who would then be notified and asked to 

respond to indicate their availability and from this 

enquiry a short-list of candidates can be prepared 

and sent to the disputing parties who may then 

communicate with some of the candidates selected 

from such a list and at this point these candidates 

can do their private ‘advertising’ by mail. 

To advertise or not to advertise? This question 

represents the tip of the iceberg that represents a 

much more serious and fundamental issue - to go 

or not to go commercial (i.e. to be in ‘practice’ 

or ‘non-practice’) - which is the real issue that 

needs to be addressed. BEM

44 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Structural Inspection Of 

Existing Bridges 

By Ir. Chong Min Khong 

Permas Jaya bridge 

In any rehabilitation of existing structures or effective 

maintenance, a thorough structural assessment of 

the structures is necessary. This would give a clear 

picture of the current state of the structures. Generally, 

this could be achieved through a combination of:- 

(a) structural inspection 

(b) structural assessment 

The intent of this paper is to outline the 

recommendations for the structural inspection of 

existing bridges. It should be emphasized that the 

extent and details of the assessment process should 

be tailored to each structure. Structural assessment, 

which involves the strength evaluation of the existing 

structure is not covered in this paper. 

Desk Study 

Generally, desk study should first be carried out. 

The purpose of the desk study is to obtain as much 

existing information as possible about the structures. 

These would include “as built” drawings, construction 

records, maintenance history, inspection records, 

previous test data, etc. and should be sought by the 

Client. 

It is possible that some if not all of these structures 

could have been evaluated and assessed by the 

relevant authority/owners through their maintenance 

programme. Thus, the above information, wherever 

possible, should be retrieved from the relevant 

authority/owners, who might have a database of their 

structures. However, it should be appreciated that not 

all of this information may be available, particularly 

for older structures. Nonetheless, effort should be 

made to obtain as much information as this would 

assist in confirming the information to be collected 

on site and in increasing the confidence level in 

the subsequent structural assessment. 

Where sufficient information is not available 

through the relevant authority/owners, attempts 

should be made to contact other sources such as the 

original designer and/or construction organisations. 

The dimensions of the various components of 

the bridge structures could be verified by field 

surveys. 

Field Investigation 

A field survey and inspection should be carried 

out to:- 

● Verify the accuracy of existing information 

obtained earlier 

● Verify the construction details, form of 

articulation, etc. in general terms 

● Gather new and additional information 

● Identify signs of defects, deterioration, water 

staining, vulnerable areas of the structure, access 

requirements, traffic management requirements 

to minimise the disruption to traffic, etc. 

● Obtain samples for laboratory testing, if the 

need arises. 

A field inspection team would comprise an 

Inspection Engineer accompanied by two to three 

technicians. The Evaluation Engineer should also 

familiarise himself with first-hand information on the 

condition of the bridge he is to evaluate. Typically, 

inspection equipment would consist of measuring 

tapes, hammer, camera, special vehicle or mobile 

elevated work platform (for high & wide bridges 

to allow for inspection of the underside of the


bridge structure over the parapets), torchlight and 

safety clothing and gears. 

The severity of the surface condition could be 

rated using a numerical index from 0 to 5 as a 

guide such as: 

0 - Not Applicable 

1 - As New 

2 - Good 

3 - Fair 

4 - Poor 

5 - Unsafe 

It should be noted that this rating on its own 

does not represent the overall structural condition 

of the bridge. 

Visual surveys would be undertaken to detect 

possible:- 

● Structural defects such as crack, deflection, 

settlement, etc. 

● Signs of staining, efflorescence, etc. 

● Component behaviour as such as vibration, 

etc. 

● Problems of joint connection, expansion joints, 

bearings, drainage, etc. 

It may be necessary to use binoculars to gain 

detailed knowledge of the condition of the bridge 

for areas of the bridge 

which cannot be seen from 

the ground (e.g. bearing 

shelves). Any observed or 

suspected defects would 

then be inspected at a 

touching distance using a 

special vehicle or mobile 

elevated work platform or 

other appropriate access 

equipment. 

The details (including 

sketches) and severity of 

deformation should be 

jotted on a prescribed 

and standardised format. 

Fig. 1 shows a sample 

of a bridge proforma. 

Reports of visual inspection 

should be supplemented 

by photographs whenever 

possible. 

Non-Destructive Tests 

Visual inspection gives 

an indication of surface 

condition of the members. 

Often, deterioration is only 

detected visually when it is 

Fig 1 – Sample of Proforma 

at its advanced stage. The use of non-destructive 

testing is therefore recommended as it could give 

signs or early warning of the presence of adverse 

deterioration. 

The technical documentation and site inspection 

sheets would be reviewed to confirm the initial test 

programme for the bridge in terms of the testing 

required and test locations. Such testing would be 

carried out on a representative area of the structure 

which would include parts both in visually good 

condition as well as those exhibiting defects. 

The following field tests may be helpful:- 

● Cover Survey 

– To measure the depth of concrete cover to 

individual bars and, if required to determine the 

diameters of the reinforcement. Care should be taken 

when using cover meter as readings are affected by 

the location and numbers of lapping bars and bar 

size. Hacking may be necessary to confirm the size 

and condition of reinforcement. 

● Hammer Survey 

– A simple method of locating delamination is by 

tapping on the surface of the structure with a hammer 

during the course of the visual surveys.

46 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

● Schmidt Rebound Hammer 

– A quick test to check the strength of the concrete. 

These may need to be verified by conducting 

compressive test on concrete core samples where 

appropriate. 

● Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity 

– To identify the homogenity of the concrete, cracks 

and voids. 

● Depth of Carbonation 

– This is normally measured by spraying phenolphthalein 

indicator onto a freshly broken concrete surface. 

Uncarbonated concrete is characterised by a deep 

pink colour. In practice, it has been found that 

sufficiently accurate results can often be obtained 

and less damage caused to the concrete by slowly 

drilling into the concrete and allowing the dust to 

fall onto a filter paper soaked in phenolphthalein. 

The depth of the hole at which the dust turns pinks 

indicates the depth of carbonation. 

● Half-Cell Potential Measurement 

– To provide an economic means of identifying 

the probability of active corrosion being present, 

provided the various factors which can influence 

potential readings, such as changes in temperature 

and concrete moisture content are recognised and 

taken into account. 

While half-cell potential maps are useful in 

predicting the likely site of active corrosion (and 

when interpreted by trained staff, can usually 

indicate whether general or pitting corrosion is 

occurring) they do not provide any data on the 

rate of corrosion. 

● Chemical Tests 

– Cement content, alkali level, sulphate, chloride, 

etc could be determined by the removal of concrete 

dust samples. Samples would be obtained by rotary 

percussive drilling using 20-25mm diameter bits 

and collecting the dust samples in purpose-made 

collection tubes. 

● Petrographic Analysis 

– To diagnose the presence of alkali-silica reaction, 

ettringite formation, etc. 

● Tendon Investigation 

– The condition of the tendon within prestressed 

members would only be investigated if there is any 

concern about their condition. It would therefore 

be carried out after the condition survey and the 

initial assessment of the results of the survey. 

The locations of the prestressing ducts would 

initially be determined from the ‘as-built’ drawings. 

However, it has been found in practice that the 

ducts could vary significantly from their design 

positions and that radar and/or radiography can 

provide a valuable aid to their precise location. 

Reporting & Rehabilitation Options 

On completion of the visual inspections and 

testing a condition report would be prepared 

providing details of all testing carried out and the 

results obtained. A diagnosis of the condition of 

the structures would be made with a prognosis of 

likely future deterioration. 

Recommendations should also be made as to any 

preventative works and maintenance programmes 

that need to be implemented to avoid subsequent 

deterioration. 

Pending further structural assessment, options for 

repair and refurbishment works or total replacement 

would be reviewed. 

Conclusion 

The importance of structural assessment of 

any structure before any rehabilitation option is 

proposed could not be over-emphasized. The level 

and extent of the assessment is dependent on each 

structure and its condition. Thus, it is important 

that time and budget be allocated by the Client 

for this exercise. BEM

48 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Strata Titles (Amendment) 

Act 2007 

By Andrew Wong, Advocate & Solicitor, High Court of Malaya 

This paper was presented at the 14 th Malaysian Law Conference on October 29, 2007. 

Background of strata titles legislation 

The Malaysian concept of sub-dividing a building was imported from New South Wales, Australia 

and was first introduced in West Malaysia on January 1, 1966 by the National Land Code, 1965 

(NLC). Individual parcels or units of property, within a multi-storey building, were then held under 

a separate subsidiary title. 

In time, the demand for ownership of flats, apartments, condominiums and commercial premises 

grew rapidly and the makeshift provisions in the NLC were found to be inadequate and in 1985, the 

Strata Titles Act (Act 318) came into force to govern the issue of strata titles for such properties. 

We now have land titles issued under the NLC and titles issued under Act 318. Registration of 

dealings relating to strata titles are still governed by the NLC. 

On April 12, 2007, Strata 

Titles (Amendment) Act 

(A1290) came into force 

and made amendments to: 

● provide for the sub-division of 

land into land parcels; 

● implement the computerization 

system of strata titles in the 

land registry; 

● add provisions relating to the 

application for sub-division 

and application for strata 

titles; 

● delete provisions which deal 

with low cost buildings; 

● define the initial period, 

determination of contributions 

payable during the initial 

period and made it mandatory 

for accounts during the initial 

period to be audited; 

● introduce a new Section 

40A to make it mandatory 

for original proprietors and 

purchasers to execute the 

transfer of ownership of strata 

titles; 

● empower a Commissioner 

of Buildings to oversee the 

management of buildings by 

management corporations; 

● enable buildings with no 

c e r t i f i c a t e o f f i t n e s s o r 

approved buildings plans to 

be sub-divided into parcels; 

and 

● add provisions relating to 

provisional blocks and allow 

for payment of quit rent on a 

parcel instead of on the lot, 

and 

● clarify the duties and powers 

of the Strata Titles Board. 

Subdivision of land into 

land parcels 

By far, the most interesting 

amendments introduced by Act 

A1290 are those made to meet 

the needs of the new housing 

development concept referred to 

as Gated Community Schemes 

or ‘GACOS’. Before Act A1290, 

1 S. 6(1). 

strata titles could only be issued 

for multi-storey buildings and 

single storey buildings on the 

same lot. 

Now, land with buildings of not 

more than four storeys can also 

be sub-divided into land parcels 

for the issue of strata titles. 

This amendment has effectively 

enlarged the types of strata 

schemes available to property 

developers. 

Unless otherwise stated, reference 

to sections of an enactment in 

this paper and the footnotes, 

refers to sections in Act 318, as 

amended by Act A1290. 

Strata schemes 

Any building having two or 

more storeys on one lot of land 

is capable of being sub-divided 

into parcels, each to be held 

under a separate strata title 1 . 

This is the most commonly used 

strata scheme in Malaysia and is 

illustrated as Scheme A.


B e f o r e A c t A 1 2 9 0 , a ny 

building or buildings having 

only one storey, on the same 

lot of land is capable of being 

sub-divided into parcels, each to 

be held under a separate strata 

title. This strata scheme is not 

so commonly used as it is not 

cost effective and is illustrated as 

Scheme B. Scheme B has been 

deleted by Act A1290. 

After Act A1290, land in 

the same lot can also be subdivided 

into land parcels, to 

be held under separate strata 

titles 2 . However, each land parcel 

must have a completed building 

thereon, of not more than four 

storeys 3 , and therefore, vacant 

land cannot be a land parcel 

to be held under a strata title. 

This scheme is illustrated as 

Scheme C. 

Finally, any alienated land 

having two or more buildings 

held as one lot under final title 

is capable of being sub-divided 

into land parcels, each to be 

held under a separate strata title 4 . 

The notable difference here is 

that a multi-storey building is 

not required to be in the same 

lot of land and this allows for 

development of an up-market 

Gated Community Schemes 

(GACOS), illustrated as Scheme 

D. 

Computerization of 

strata titles 

I n W e s t M a l a y s i a , 

computerization of titles issued 

under the NLC, which commenced 

some time ago, have been 

completed in all States, and have 

greatly improved the registration of 

dealings. Most legal practitioners 

are already familiar with the 

computerization system of titles 

issued under the NLC. 

Act A1290 sought to introduce 

similar provisions found in the NLC 

and provides for the coming into 

operation of the computerization 

system of strata titles in the land 

registry 5 . 

Scheme A - Multi-storey buildings 

Scheme B 

Building 

Parcel 

Application for subdivision 

Under an amended Section 8, 

the circumstances under which 

it is compulsory for a proprietor 

of any alienated land on which 

there is a completed building 

capable of being sub-divided, to 

apply for sub-division have been 

changed. Compulsory application 

for sub-division is only required 

2 S. 6(1). 

3 S. 4 - definition of “land parcel” 

4 S. 6(1A). 

5 S. 4A. 

Club House 

Building 

Parcel 

Club House 

Parcel 

if the proprietor of an alienated 

land has sold or agreed to sell 

any parcel in such building. 

Generally, if a sale is made 

before completion or erection of 

the building, the application for 

sub-division is required to be 

made within six months from the 

date of completion or erection. If 

a sale is made after completion 

or erection of the building, the

50 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Scheme C 

Scheme D 

Club House 

Double Storey 

Bungalow 

Parcel 

application for sub-division is 

required to be made within six 

months from the date of the 

sale. 

Completion or erection means 

when the certificate of fitness 

for occupation or the certificate 

of completion and compliance, 

as the case may be, has been 

issued 6 , and ‘sale’ includes ‘an 

agreement to sell’. 

Where an application is not 

made within the prescribed 

period or within such time as 

may be extended by the Director, 

the original proprietor shall be 

guilty of an offence and shall, 

Club House 

Single Storey Terrace House 

Double Storey 

Semi-Detached 

Houses 

Double Storey 

Bungalows 

Land 

Parcel 

on conviction, be liable to a 

fine of not less than RM10,000 

but not more than RM100,000 

and to a further fine of not less 

than RM100 but not more than 

RM1,000 for every day during 

which the offence continues to 

be committed 7 . 

Deletion of provisions relating 

to low cost buildings 

The provisions for low-cost 

buildings which were contained 

6 S. 8(8). 

7 S. 8(7). 

in Part IX, Sections 58-67 of 

Act 318, were deleted by Act 

A1290. 

Under the old Section 64, 

the management corporation 

of a low-cost building comes 

into existence only upon the 

completion of the transfer of 

strata title in respect of all the 

parcels by the original proprietor, 

unless an order has been made 

by the Director on an application 

made by parcel proprietors (other 

than the original proprietor) 

having share units totalling more 

than half of total share units of 

all parcels. 

The deletion of provisions 

relating to low cost buildings 

means that, for the purpose of 

determining when the management 

corporation comes into existence, 

there is now no difference between 

low cost buildings and non-low 

cost buildings. In both cases, the 

management corporation will 

come into existence upon the 

opening of the book of strata 

register. 

Provisions for classification of 

low cost buildings by the State 

Authority are now contained in 

a new Section 10B, which also 

provides that the State Authority 

may, on an application by the 

management corporation, or on its 

own motion, appoint a managing 

agent to exercise powers and 

discharge duties and functions of 

the management corporation. 

New definition of 

initial period 

Initial period, in relation 

to a management corporation, 

was defined as the period 

commencing on the day on which 

the management corporation is 

formed and ending on the day 

when the purchasers of at least 

one-third of the aggregate share 

units of the parcels are registered 

as parcel proprietors.


Act A1290 has amended the 

initial period to make it expire 

when the purchasers of at least 

one-quarter of the aggregate share 

units of the parcels are registered 

as parcel proprietors 8 . 

This means that the first 

annual general meeting of the 

management corporation can be 

convened earlier than before, 

so that the elected council can 

then take over the maintenance 

and management of the common 

property and perform and exercise 

the duties and powers of the 

management corporation. 

It is pertinent to note that the 

penalty which may be imposed 

on the original proprietor who 

fails to convene the first annual 

general meeting within one month 

after the expiration of the initial 

period has been enhanced from 

a fine not exceeding RM1,000 to 

a fine not exceeding RM25,000 

and a further fine not exceeding 

RM2,000 for each day the offence 

continues to be committed 9 . 

Contributions payable during 

the initial period 

Where the first annual general 

m e e t i n g o f a m a n a g e m e n t 

c o r p o r a t i o n h a s n o t b e e n 

convened, the proprietor of the 

parcels or provisional blocks shall, 

commencing from the opening of 

the book of strata register, pay to 

the management corporation any 

sum determined by the original 

proprietor as the contributions 

payable by the parcel proprietors 

to the management fund 10 . 

Before Act A1290, the amount 

of contribution was such sum 

which has been approved by 

the Director, and obviously this 

did not work well, as many 

developers did not apply to the 

Director for an approved sum 

and merely continued to collect 

the sum originally determined by 

them under the contract of sale. 

Any proprietor who is not 

satisfied with the sum determined 

by the original proprietor may 

Condominium 

apply to the Commissioner for 

a review 11 and any amount 

determined by the Commissioner 

shall be deemed to be the amount 

determined by the management 

corporation. 

Accounts of the management 

corporation to be audited 

Before Act A1290, there was 

no requirement for the accounts 

of the management corporation 

during the initial period, to be 

audited and correspondingly, at 

the first annual general meeting 

of the management corporation 

8 S. 4 - definition of “initial period”. 

9 S. 41(2). 

10 S. 41A (1). 

11 S. 41A (2). 

12 S. 40(4). 

13 S. 41(5) (e). 

there was no requirement for 

any audited accounts of the 

management corporation to be 

presented. 

Act A1290 now requires the 

accounts of the management 

corporation during the initial 

period to be audited by a 

registered auditor appointed by 

the original proprietor, and to be 

presented to the Commissioner 

of Buildings 12 . In addition, 

the audited accounts of the 

management corporation are 

to be presented at the first 

annual general meeting of the 

management corporation 13 .

52 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Mandatory to execute transfer 

of ownership of strata titles 

Under a new Section 40A, 

any original proprietor or any 

person appointed by a court 

of competent jurisdiction shall 

execute the transfer of strata 

titles to the parcel proprietors 

within 12 months from the date 

of issue of strata titles by the 

Land Administrator or within such 

extended time approved by the 

Director. 

Likewise, any purchaser shall 

execute complete documents of 

transfer of strata titles within 12 

months from the date of notice 

of transfer of strata titles issued 

by the original proprietor or from 

the date of purchase of the parcel, 

whichever is the later. 

Any person who fails to 

comply with the above provisions 

shall be guilty of an offence and 

shall on conviction, be liable to 

a fine of not less than RM1,000 

and not more than RM10,000 

per parcel. 

These mandatory provisions 

will perhaps go a long way 

to solve the ever increasing 

problems caused by the delaying 

tactics of the original proprietor 

or the purchasers, as the case 

may be, to complete the transfer 

of strata titles, which in turn is 

the principal cause of delay in 

convening the first annual general 

meeting of the management 

corporation. 

Section 40A will further 

e n h a n c e e x i s t i n g s t a t u t o r y 

p r o v i s i o n s r e g u l a t i n g t h e 

transfer of strata titles relating 

to housing accommodation. 

Under Regulation 11A(3) of the 

Housing Development (Control 

and Licensing) Regulations, 1989 

(1989 Regulations), in a sale of 

housing accommodation to which 

no separate title has been issued, 

a housing developer is required to 

execute the instrument of transfer 

within 21 days from the date 

the separate title is subsequently 

issued and received by the 

High-rise buildings 

housing developer and thereafter 

forward the same to the purchaser 

who shall execute the instrument 

of transfer within 21 days from 

the receipt of the same from the 

housing developer. 

Any person who contravenes 

any of the provisions of the 1989 

Regulations shall be guilty of 

an offence and shall be liable 

on conviction to a fine not 

exceeding RM5,000 or to a term of 

imprisonment not exceeding three 

years or to both 14 and any person 

who knowingly and willfully aids 

and abets the commission of an 

offence against any provisions of 

the 1989 Regulations shall be 

liable to be punished with the 

same punishment provided for 

the offence 15 . 

It is now quite common for: 

(a) purchasers who have defaulted 

in their loan to refuse or neglect 

to come forward and execute 

the instrument of transfer, 

when the strata titles relating 

to their properties have been 

issued, presumably for the 

reason that these purchasers 

are not willing to fork out 

additional monies to complete 

the transfer for properties for 

14 Regulation 13(1) of 1989 Regulations. 

15 Regulation 13(3) of 1989 Regulations. 

16 S. 3(1) of Act 663. 

which foreclosure proceedings 

have been commenced by the 

respective financiers; 

(b) financiers of such properties, 

not to make any effort to 

complete the transfer of the 

strata titles, which they are 

entitled to do under the power 

of attorney granted to them, 

as such financiers prefer to 

have the liberty to conduct 

non-judicial auctions; 

(c) liquidators appointed by a 

court in respect of a developer 

under liquidation to refuse 

or neglect, for whatever 

reasons they have, to execute 

the instrument of transfer 

when strata titles have been 

issued. 

Perhaps, the new Section 40A, 

coupled with strict enforcement 

of Regulation 11A (3) will 

make purchasers, financiers and 

liquidators fulfill their respective 

obligations to execute the 

instrument of transfer when the 

strata titles have been issued. 

The Commissioner of 

Buildings 

The Commissioner of Buildings 

is a person appointed under 

Section 3 of the Building and 

Common Property (Maintenance 

and Management) Act 2007 (Act 

663), which also came into force 

on April 12, 2007. Under Act 

663, the State Authority may, in 

respect of a local authority area 

or any other area, appoint a 

Commissioner for the purposes of 

administering and carrying out the 

provisions of Act 663 16 , and the 

Commissioner shall have charge 

of administration Parts VI and VII 

of Act 318. 

Hence, in respect of the rights 

and obligations attaching to


53 

individual parcels and provisional 

blocks 17 and the management 

of a sub-divided building 18 , the 

Commissioner has replaced the 

Director and the Commissioner 

will now be the person in charge 

to oversee all matters relating 

thereto. 

Special Buildings 

Strata titles for many buildings 

occupied before June 1996 could 

not be issued as an application 

for strata titles could not be made 

as either the buildings have not 

been issued with the certificate 

of fitness for occupation or 

the buildings plans are lost or 

destroyed. 

Any building occupied before 

June 1996 is now classified 

as a special building under 

Act A1290 19 and the amended 

provision 20 now allows for an 

application to be made to obtain 

strata titles for a special building, 

without having to satisfy the 

Director that the building to be 

sub-divided have been certified 

by the local authority to be fit 

for occupation or use. 

Provisional blocks 

When a development on the 

same lot of land, comprising a 

number of blocks of high-rise 

buildings, is developed in phases, 

after the first block is completed 

the developer is required to 

apply for the sub-division of the 

building for issuance of strata 

title for the completed block. 

At the same time the developer 

will apply for provisional strata 

titles for the uncompleted blocks. 

These blocks to be erected or 

are uncompleted are known as 

provisional blocks. 


under an amended Section 10A of 

Act 318, no land can be included 

in the application for the issuance 

of a provisional strata title for the 

provisional block. This means for 

a Scheme C development 21 , if the 

developer chooses to complete 

the two blocks of buildings, he 

may not apply for provisional 

strata titles for the uncompleted 

land parcels. 

If provisional strata title has 

been issued for an uncompleted 

block, the original proprietor 

of the provisional strata title is 

required to apply for the issue 

of separate strata titles to the 

parcels in the building as soon 

as the building in respect of that 

title has been completed and 

a certificate of completion and 

compliance has been issued, and 

in any event within six months 

from the date of issue of the said 

certificate. 

Payment of quit rent on 

a parcel 

Quit rent has always been 

made payable on the lot of 

land, often known as the master 

title, and legal practitioners often 

face a common problem when 

registering a dealing relating to 

a strata title. 

Under the NLC, any instrument 

of dealing shall not be registered 

if any rent due in respect of the 

land has not been paid at the 

time of presentation 22 . 

Many developers or proprietors 

of master titles often do not pay 

the rent due in respect of the 

land until May of each year. 

Presentation of instrument of 

dealings during the period from 

January to May of each year, are 

hindered by such non-payment 

of the rent. 

Section 43(1) of Act 318 has 

been amended by Act 1290 by 

the deletion of paragraph (j) to 

17 Part VI. 

18 Part VII. 

19 S. 4 - definition of “special building”. 

20 S. 9(1). 

21 Illustrated in paragraph 4.03 of this paper. 

22 S. 301A NLC. 

23 S. 67A (1). 

24 S. 37(2) has been deleted by Act A1290. 

25 S. 45(6)(b). 

allow for the payment of annual 

rent on the parcels and not on 

the lot. Correspondingly, Form 4 

in the First Schedule of Act 318 

has been amended to allow for 

payment of rent on the parcel. 

The Strata Titles Board 

Act A1290 has made much 

clearer the duties and powers of 

the Strata Titles Board. 

The Board is now established 

to hear and determine any 

disputes under Act 318, on an 

application made by a proprietor 

or the management corporation, 

or any other person having a 

registered interest in a parcel 23 . 

Such disputes can relate to byelaws 

made by the management 

corporation, resolutions passed 

by the management corporation, 

elections held, interest rate for 

late payment of contributions to 

the management fund, insurance 

matters, disputes on costs of 

repairs in a parcel carried out 

by the management corporation, 

alterations to common property 

and other related matters. 

Other significant 

amendments 

Act A1290 has enabled parcel 

proprietors who are chargors to 

vote in general meetings of the 

management corporation without 

having to obtain an agreement 

from the chargee24 . 

The management corporation 

is now empowered to levy 

contributions to the management 

fund on the purchasers who 

are not yet registered as parcel 

proprietors 25 . BEM

54 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

In the mechanical method, 

demolition is usually carried 

out piece by piece at a 

time using heavy tools such as 

diamond saws, oxygen cutters 

and hydraulic bursters. The 

traditional mechanical method is 

already commonplace in Malaysia 

and is therefore not described 

further. In the explosive method, 

demolition is carried out using 

powerful military explosives to 

enable the building to be pulled 

down in a matter of seconds. 

This method of demolition is 

very new in the country. In fact, 

there is hardly any building or 

structure demolished this way in 

this country, despite the fact that 

the method has been successfully 

used elsewhere since the 1950s, 

particularly in North America 

and Europe. One of the reasons 

could be the lack of knowledge, 

exposure and confidence among 

engineers, clients and contractors 

with regards to the method. 

With many concrete buildings 

in Malaysia approaching their 

designed lives and some of which 

are high-rise structures, there is 

a need to consider the explosive 

method should the buildings need 

to be demolished. While the legal 

aspects of an explosive engineer’s 

job have been described elsewhere 

[1], this article attempts to give an 

overview and share with readers 

knowledge and experience with 

An Overview Of The 

Use Of Explosives For 

The Demolition Of 

Building Structures 

By Assoc. Prof Ir. Dr. Arazi Bin Idrus 1 , University Teknologi Petronas, Perak 

A building structure is normally designed for a life span of about 50 years. However, if 

it has sustained severe damage during or after its life span that is beyond economical 

repair, the last resort would be to demolish it. The demolition should be done in 

a controlled manner, either by the traditional mechanical method or by explosives 

means. 

respect to the use of explosives 

for the demolition of building 

structures. 

Explosives And Their 

Detonating Effects 

An explosive (or ‘explosive 

charge’) can be defined as ‘a 

material which can decompose 

extremely rapidly when correctly 

initiated to produce energy (heat) 

and expanding gases, which can 

perform work on the immediate 

surroundings [2]. An explosive is 

basically a mixture of a fuel and 

oxidizer with or without a binder 

(stabilizer) material. Probably 

the first explosive, gunpowder, 

was used by the Chinese in 

700 AD. It was a mixture of 

charcoal (the fuel), sulphur (the 

binder/ stabilizer) and potassium 

nitrate salt (the oxidizer) [3]. 

More modern explosives were 

developed by the Swedish Nobel 

family, notably by Alfred (of the 

Nobel Prize), who discovered 

nitroglycerine (NG) in 1863 and 

dynamite in 1866. Trinitrotoluene 

(TNT) was discovered at about 

the same time, perhaps by the 

Germans. Since then, more and 

more powerful explosives had 

been developed particularly for 

military uses, such as cyclonite 

(RDX) in 1899, octogen (HMX) 

in 1930, ANFO in 1955 and C4 

(91% RDX) in the 1960s. 

1 BEng (Civil), Msc (Weapons Effects on Structures), PhD (Construction) 

Explosives are classified 

according to their ease of initiation 

and speed of reaction. They can 

be classified either as ‘primary’ 

or ‘secondary’ (high) explosives. 

Primary explosives are those which 

can easily be primed or initiated 

to either burn or detonate, for 

example, lead azide and mercury 

fulminate. They are usually used as 

detonating devices or “detonators” 

to initiate the detonation of more 

powerful, secondary explosives. 

Secondary explosives (e.g. TNT, 

RDX, HMX and C4) are more 

difficult to explode and so require 

initiation from primary explosives. 

These explosives detonate to 

produce powerful shock waves at 

speeds in the order of 4000 ms -1 

to 9000 ms -1 . They are the types 

used as the “main charges” for 

demolition works. 

The detonating effect of an 

explosive is largely due to the 

very high dynamic over pressure 

in the shock front of its detonation 

wave which passes through the 

length of the charge and out 

into the surrounding medium 

[3]. Fig. 1 depicts the detonation 

of a length of explosive charge 

in air with the corresponding 

pressure profile beneath it. The 

overpressure produced in the 

shock front is in the range of 

150 to 400 kilobar. Behind the 

shock front is a very short (1-10 

mm) ‘reaction’ zone in which the


55 

Expanding Gas 

Pressure 

(Not to scale) 

Gas Front 

Reaction 

Zone 

Shock Front 

explosive material decomposes 

into gases. The rear of this zone 

is marked by a negative pressure 

because the gases are moving 

backwards relative to the forward 

movement of the shock front. 

Behind the reaction zone, the 

gases immediately move outwards 

(expands) very rapidly applying a 

huge force to everything in the 

surrounding area. 

Th e m a i n p r o b l e m w i t h 

explosives is that they can be 

sensitive to heat and shock. In 

order to ensure stability during 

handling and storage, the explosive 

material is often combined with 

Unconsumed 

explosive 

Distance from 

Detonator 

Fig.1 Section through a Detonating Explosive and Corresponding 

Overpressure Profile [3] 

a plastic binder material to avoid 

initiation under normal handling 

and storage conditions. Today’s 

secondary high explosives are 

usually produced in plastic 

rather than in pure form, hence 

the name ‘plastic’ or ‘plasticbonded’ 

explosives. The plastic 

binder also makes the explosive 

material more malleable i.e. can 

be molded into different shapes 

so as to change the direction and 

focus of the explosion. This leads 

to the creation of ‘shape charges’ 

commonly used in demolition 

works to cut steel or reinforced 

concrete members. 

2/3 of 

circumference 

charged 

Point 

of impact 

(a) (b) 

Techniques For Explosive 

Demolition 

There are basically five 

techniques for carrying out 

explosive demolition of buildings 

and other similar structures, 

namely, ‘telescoping’, ‘toppling’, 

‘implosion,’ ‘progressive collapse’ 

and ‘shattering’. 

● Telescoping 

Telescoping is the near-vertical 

collapse of a structure by the 

introduction of a large stress at 

the base so that the upper floors 

are broken up by impact with the 

ground as the structure descends, 

see Fig. 2(a)[5]. The method is 

widely used for demolishing tall 

shell structures such as cooling 

towers and chimneys. 

In the demolition of cooling 

towers, for example, about twothirds 

of the legs are removed 

to create a slight tilting of the 

structure with the rear legs (or 

first floor columns) acting as a 

hinge, Fig.2(b). Within a delay 

of between 75 to 100 ms, 

approximately two-thirds of the 

shell circumferences higher above 

the legs are then weakened using 

two to three rows of explosives 

placed at 450mm centre to 

centre. Typically a total of 60 

2/3 of legs charged 

Fig 2 Telescoping Technique On A Cooling Tower (a) collapse mode (b) charging method

56 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Fig. 3 Toppling Technique 

to 80 kg of explosive charges is 

needed to demolish a structure 

like this. 

● Toppling 

The toppling technique is 

applicable for rectangular highrise 

structures. In this technique, 

toppling is induced by the use 

of cutting charges placed on the 

front legs, see Fig. 3. Once the 

front legs are charged, a hinge 

is formed at the back to allow 

topple to take place. Toppling 

requires more space and also 

throws more debris than any other 

techniques. 

● Implosion 

Hinge 

Implosion (Fig. 4) refers to 

the centrally motivated explosive 

demolition of a structure where 

the outer walls are left free of 

explosives and remain intact. 

Placing and timing of the charges 

are arranged in such a way 

so that the structure collapses 

inwards on itself. This technique 

is often the choice in highly 

developed areas where damage to 

the surrounding must be greatly 

reduced or totally avoided. The 

technique requires an estimate, 

based on experience, of the rate 

at which various elements of a 

structure will fail, collapse and 

then fall. 

● Progressive collapse 

Shatter 

This technique is generally 

used for long structures where 

ground vibrations are critical. 

The collapse is designed so 

that relatively small parts of 

the structure hit the ground at 

considerable intervals to avoid 

a single large impact. 

Fig. 4 The Implosion Method Of Explosive Demolition [5] 

● Shattering 

In this technique, the structure 

is simply brought down by drilled 

explosives. There is no intention 

of controlling the collapse, as 

this is not important, for example 

in demolishing small, isolated 

buildings. 

Charging The Structure 

A n y d e m o l i t i o n , b e i t 

mechanical or explosive, is 

preceded with the formation 

of collapse mechanisms i.e. 

formation of appropriate number 

of plastic hinges in the structure. 

Once the hinges are formed, the 

collapsed member must then be 

free to fall under its own selfweight. 

In an explosive demolition, 

formation of collapse mechanisms 

is achieved by applying explosive 

charges at specific locations in 

the structural members such as 

beams and columns (‘charging the 

structure’). For this, the charges 

are inserted into pre-drilled 

holes in the structural members 

as required These charges are 

usually contained in cylindrical 

aluminium tubes of diameter 

between 25-50 mm and length 

between 100-300 mm (See Fig. 5). 

The tube also houses a detonation 

mechanism which consists of 

a primary explosive, a booster 

explosives and a fuse head. The 

fuse head flashes to activate 

the primary explosive, which 

in turn explodes to activate the 

booster charge and subsequently 

the main (or secondary high 

explosive) charge. The charges 

are connected together either 

using safety fuse cords or more 

often, using leading copper wires. 

In a fuse cord connection, the 

end of the fuse cord is ignited 

to produce a flash that will 

activate the primary explosive. In 

a leading copper wire connection 

(See Fig. 5), an electric current 

is passed through a copper wire, 

which heats up the fuse head to 

initiate the primary explosive.


57 

Leading copper 

wire 

In most demolition work, delay 

is usually necessary to produce a 

sequence of detonation necessary 

for the structure to collapse in a 

systematic and controlled manner 

and achieve the desired collapse 

mode. 

This delay is provided by 

a column of a slow burning 

element in the tube. The length 

of this column determines the 

length of delay required. Once 

all the charges are connected, 

the structure is ready to be 

exploded using a remotelycontrolled 

central switch. 

Important Considerations 

Fuse head 

In deciding whether to use 

conventional or explosive method 

of demolition, or even which 

particular explosive technique 

is appropriate for a given 

situation, certain factors have 

to be considered. These are as 

follows: 

■ Type of structural construction 

If the building is of panel 

construction, more charges would 

be required to weaken the 

structure. There would be a large 

number of holes to drill and also 

more extensive detonation cords 

to use. This can have a negative 

impact on the demolition cost. 

In fact, for panel buildings with 

walls less than 150mm thick, the 

explosive technique is usually not 

economic [4]. 

■ Local geography 

I n h i g h l y d e v e l o p e d o r 

urban areas, the building to be 

Primary Explosive 

Fig. 5 Electric Detonator-Main Charge arrangement 

Booster 

Explosive 

demolished tends to be in close 

proximity, or even adjoining, 

other buildings. Any explosive 

technique used in the demolition 

work must aim to avoid direct 

impact on the annexed or 

surrounding buildings. 

■ Building geometry 

The geometry of the building 

to be demolished can also be 

an important consideration. 

For example in the toppling 

technique, the building must 

have a certain minimum heightto-width 

ratio to initiate the 

toppling effect. Besides, the 

hinge or pivot point for the 

toppling must also lie behind the 

centre of gravity of the structure 

so that it would fall towards the 

front. 

■ Availability of 

design information 

As demolition works are 

normally carried out on old 

buildings, drawings and other 

design information may no 

longer be available. As a result, 

extensive structural assessment 

on the building may therefore 

be required to determine the 

r e i n f o r c e m e n t d e s i g n a n d 

existing material properties. 

This necessitates extra work 

and additional costs. Besides, 

even if drawings are available, 

designers naturally would tend 

to design with high factors of 

safety. Consequently, there is a 

possibility that calculated charge 

weights and proposed layout for 

the demolition work may be 

inadequate. 

Massive charge 

(secondary high explosive) 

■ Cost 

For building demolition, charge 

weights may range between 5 kg 

to 100 kg, depending on how 

massive the structure is. With 

an explosive material cost of 

perhaps less than a few hundred 

ringgits per kg, the bulk of the 

demolition cost does not come 

from the charge material itself. 

Rather, from the cost of the 

installation and operation work 

involved such as drilling and 

preparing the holes, providing 

the specialized workers and 

equipment, the ‘accessories’ 

required, insurances and the 

necessary mitigation measures 

taken before the demolition work 

begins. 

■ Undesirable effects of 

ground vibration 

Ground vibration as a result 

of the structure impacting on 

the ground can cause damage 

to nearby buildings or buried 

structures. The effect may be 

evaluated empirically by finding 

the Root Mean Square of the 

Peak Particle Velocity (RMS PPV) 

of the soil below the structure 

[4]. In order to limit the effects 

of the ground vibration, RMS 

PPV for buried and above ground 

structure should not exceed 5 

mm/s and 50 mm/s respectively. 

Consideration must also be given 

to extend this limit by taking 

certain mitigation measures, such 

as cushioning the impact with 

a loose blanket of fill around 

the building to be demolished, 

or cutting trenches around the 

buildings to be protected.

58 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

■ Undesirable effects of air blast 

and flying debris 

The demolition technique 

used must ensure that effects 

from air blast and flying debris 

are within control. Appropriate 

mitigation measures must be 

taken to reduce these effects 

such as by wrapping the columns 

and beams in the building to 

be demolished with iron sheets 

and screening the surrounding 

buildings using tarpaulins or 

plywood. 

Conclusion 

The explosive method of 

demolition can provide a very 

fast and efficient means of 

demolishing high-rise building 

structures. Besides, it also 

ensures safety to all personnel 

involved, as the demolition 

operation is remotely done and 

controlled. Several techniques 

for the explosive demolition 

of the buildings have been 

Subscription Form 

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described and discussed. These 

a r e t e l e s c o p i n g , t o p p l i n g , 

implosion, progressive collapse 

and shattering. The choice 

depends on a number of factors 

such as type of structural 

construction, building geometry 

and local geography. However, 

b e f o r e e m b a r k i n g o n a n y 

explosive technique as an 

REFERENCES 

Postcode: Country: 

Tel: Fax: E-mail: 

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payable to Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia. Please fax/mail this 

form to: 

Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia, 

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Others (Please specify) 

(Please tick the appropriate circle) 

alternative to conventional 

demolition, an assessment must 

also be made on whether the 

large savings in time outweigh 

the higher installation and 

equipment costs, the extensive 

planning work needed as well 

as the necessary measures taken 

to mitigate the undesirable 

effects of the operation. BEM 

[1] Sahari, L.K. Blasters and Explosive Engineers: The Job and 

The Malaysian Law. Buletin Jurutera, October 2006. 

[2] BS 6187:2000: Code of Practice for Demolition 

[3] Walter, K. Introduction to Explosives. Lecture Notes, MSc 

Weapons Effects on Structures, Royal Military College of 

Science, Cranfield University UK, WES No. 7, 1993 

[4] Mays G.C. Damage Assessment, Repair and Demolition. 

Lecture Notes, MSc Weapons Effects on Structures, Royal 

Military College of Science, Cranfield University UK, 

WES No. 7, 1993 

[5] http://www.implosionworld.com

60 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

Disabled People As 

Stakeholders In A Barrier- 

Free Built Environment 

By Naziaty Mohd Yaacob, Department of Architecture, Faculty of the Built Environment, University 

of Malaya and Nor Rasidah Hashim, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Environmental 

Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia 

This paper describes the vital roles that disabled people should play as significant 

stakeholders in the development process of a barrier-free built environment. Their roles 

are conducting Disability Awareness Training; conducting Access Survey and Access Audits; 

and being Technical Advisors on matters pertaining to accessibility, inclusive policies and 

universal design to local authorities and the private sector. In order to realize these roles, 

disabled people need to empower themselves by disability advocacy work for a barrierfree 

built environment. 

In Malaysia, the participation of 

disabled people as a significant 

stakeholders in the built 

environment’s construction and 

development process was started 

by an international disability 

awareness in the last decade. 

Firstly, the Asian and Pacific 

Decade of Disabled Persons 1993- 

2002 provided the framework of 

action for countries in the region 

aiming for equal opportunities for 

disabled people, enabling them to 

participate in society’s mainstream 

development. In 2007, further 

disability awareness resulted in 

the Biwako Plus Five 1 , which saw 

Malaysia as one of the signatories 

to an action plan to promote 

disability-inclusive development 

(UNESCAP, 2007). 

One of the priority areas under 

the Biwako Millenium Framework 

(BMF) for Action is “Access to 

built environments and public 

transport” (UNESCAP, 2007). 

Under this section in the BMF, 

the Government would need to 

do the following: 

(a) Take appropriate measures to 

enforce accessibility standards 

effectively and to promote 

accessibility in both existing 

and newly built environments 

and public transport; 

(b) Promote the concept of 

universal design among public 

and private entities, with a 

view to benefit persons with 

different disabilities; 

(c) Ensure, in collaboration with 

other stakeholders, that all 

services which are open to or 

provided for the public take 

into account all aspects of 

accessibility for persons with 

disabilities; 

(d) Encourage and promote 

the research into and the 

development of good quality 

mobility aids and devices 

a t a f f o r d a b l e p r i c e s i n 

order to enable access by 

persons with disabilities to 

built environments, public 

transport, information and 

communications, and other 

services; 

(e) Take appropriate measures to 

promote accessible tourism. 

All the points in italics above 

can be addressed in the three 

different roles that disabled 

people should participate in, 

which are: (i) conduct Disability 

Awareness Training; (ii) conduct 

access survey and access audits; 

and (iii) be technical advisors on 

matters pertaining to accessibility, 

inclusive policies and universal 

design to local authorities and 

the private sector. 

Furthermore, the Malaysian 

Parliament recently passed the 

Persons with Disabilities Bill 

2007 (PWD Bill 2007) and the 

Act resulting from this Bill can 

provide greater opportunities for 

disabled people to participate in 

the development process of a 

barrier-free built environment. The 

Persons with Disabilities Act 2007 

(PWD Act 2007) would create 

a framework for action at the 

national level that would reinforce 

the various roles for advocacy. 

This shows the commitment of 

the Malaysian Government as 

a major stakeholder to ensure 

that disabled people have equal 

participation in the nation’s 

development. 

1 The Biwako Millennium Framework (BMF) provides a framework for action 

to further the goals of an inclusive, barrier-free and rights-based society for 

persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific. BMF contains seven priority 

areas for action and four strategic actions that Governments, in co-operation 

with civil society, are urged to pursue to further achieve the goals and 

commitments of BMF in the period 2003-2012. See http://www.worldenable. 

net/bmf5/bmf5adopted.htm.


Nevertheless, there are still 

unresolved issues that should 

prompt disabled people to carry 

out advocacy work. At the 

moment there are no strict 

implementation and enforcement 

of By-law 34A of the Uniform 

Building By-laws which requires 

all buildings to have access 

for disabled people. The use 

of Malaysian Standards 1184 

and 1183 2 has not been fully 

addressed, although it has been 

incorporated under the building 

by-law (Arikisamy, 2007) 3 . For 

example, many light rail transit 

(LRT) stations in Kuala Lumpur 

are not accessible (Arikisamy, 

2007), such as the Monorail line 

and the former STAR line, which 

seriously excludes low-income 

disabled people from gaining 

better employment prospects. 

Furthermore, existing buildings 

built before 1991, should be 

surveyed and audited, and be 

upgraded to comply with the 

Building Regulations. Another 

aspect that is lacking is the street 

environment as the Malaysian 

Standard 1331: Access of Disabled 

Persons Outside Buildings (2003) 

has yet to be incorporated in 

any of the legislation (Yaacob, 

2007). 4 

Government buildings that 

do not have to comply with the 

codes of practice and fall under 

the responsibility of the Public 

Works Department should also 

be made accessible, safe and 

usable for disabled people. 

T h i s c o m p l i c a t e d 

implementation process has 

left disabled people with no 

choice but to be involved in the 

building and construction process 

of the nation. 

Advocating A Barrier-Free 

Built Environment 

Th e r e a r e t h r e e m a j o r 

stakeholders in a Barrier-Free 

Built Environment: disabled 

people, the Government, and the 

private sector. In this country, 

therefore, disabled people need 

Figure 1: This cartoon illustrates the expectations of disabled people not 

being met by the authorities who assume that they have implemented 

the policies and building regulation to satisfaction as there is no 

complaint. 

to take the lead in promoting a 

barrier-free built environment. 

The full engagement of disabled 

people in a barrier-free built 

environment development process 

means disabled people are able 

to articulate their concerns such 

as the ability to conduct access 

surveys; write access audits to 

present findings and solutions; 

and that the society wholeheartedly 

adopts the concepts 

of barrier-free environment and 

universal design as what has 

happened in many developed 

countries. 

Disabled people need to 

advocate many ways to achieve 

equal participation within society 

and to achieve a barrier-free 

environment. Understanding 

physical barriers and suggesting 

what to do to overcome the 

barriers are essential skills to 

advocacy. However, it is a teameffort 

that requires updating 

knowledge in many areas, such 

as building, architecture, street 

environment, landscaping, urban 

design and town planning. 

Assuming the role of a resource 

person would make a lot of 

difference by giving input in the 

process of development. 

In many instances, a lack of 

understanding about the need to 

fulfill certain requirements is one 

of the problems of implementation 

of a barrier-free environment 

apart from misinterpretation 

of the standards and codes 

of development practice. In 

order to fulfill one of BMF’s 

objectives which is to ‘enforce 

accessibility standards effectively 

and to promote accessibility 

2 MS 1184: 2002 Code of Practice on Access for Disabled Persons to Public 

Buildings; MS 1183: Part 8: 1990: Specifications for Fire Precautions in the 

Design and Construction of Buildings Part 8: Code of Practice for Means of 

Escape for Disabled People. 

3 Arikisamy, A., 2007, Country Paper on Malaysia reported to UNESCAP, 

Accessed on 23 rd December 2007 (http://www.worldenable.net/cdpf2006/ 

papermalaysia.htm) 

4 Yaacob, N.M. 2007. The Social Model versus the Medical Model of Disability: 

UK and Malaysian Perceptions. Forum on Public Transport for Disadvantaged 

Groups. May 2007 at the Caring Society Complex, Penang. (unpublished 

paper)

62 FEATURE 

THE INGENIEUR 

in both existing and newly 

built environments and public 

transport’, disabled persons need 

to acquire technical knowledge 

to practice the use of access 

survey and audits. 

Disability Awareness 

Training 

Effective advocacy requires 

training. Firstly, disabled people 

need to educate themselves 

about issues concerning the 

built environment and various 

modes of transport. They need 

to understand how different 

s t a k e h o l d e r s wo r k a n d b e 

able to differentiate between 

strategies, policies, regulations 

and implementation. These skills 

will ensure that their concerns 

will be well articulated. 

Secondly, disabled people must 

be trainers and resource persons. 

With their new found skills, they 

could be partners to the building 

and construction process by 

providing training for technical 

personnel in local authorities, 

university administrators and the 

private sectors (UNESCAP, 2001). 5 

To date, disabled people had 

conducted Disability Awareness 

Training (DAT) training with 

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 

Universiti Malaya (UM), Majlis 

Perbandaran Pulau Pinang (MPPP) 

and Majlis Bandaran Petaling 

Jaya (MBPJ) from the year 2000 

until 2002. In Malaysia, disabled 

people had been involved in 

DAT programmes and recently 

the BEAT group (Barrier-free 

Environment and Accessible 

Transport Group) were involved 

with the private sector training 

employees of Air Asia 6 . The 

method that BEAT employs is 

called Disability Equality Training 

which does not use Simulation 

Exercises but is similar in many 

ways to DAT. 

Participants in a DAT will be 

given exercises in: 

(i) Understanding Barriers 

(ii) Simulation Exercises on 

experiencing difficulties that 

disabled people undergo 

(iii) Understanding Dimensions 

(iv) Conducting Access Surveys; 

and 

(v) Writing Access Audit 

Reports 

The content of the DAT will 

vary according to the needs 

and purpose of the group of 

participants but in essence 

would provide the necessary 

skills for action. 

The Use of Access Survey and 

Audits in the Development 

Process 

Thirdly, disabled people can 

act as volunteers or consultants 

in Access Survey and Access 

Audit. We have come across 

officers in local Government 

that expressed the lack of 

feedback from disabled people 

on accessibility issues (see 

Figure 1). This is due to the 

fact that disabled people do 

not have adequate knowledge 

and language of the built 

environment to enable them to 

communicate with architects and 

contractors. 

A p a r t f r o m t e c h n i c a l 

knowledge that deepens with 

practice, advocacy work will 

not be successful without 

understanding how different 

stakeholders, building regulations 

and professionals work. In 

particular it is important to 

identify which Government 

department is responsible to 

what area or sectors and who 

are the decision-makers in 

policy-making, guidelines and 

implementation. Hence, strategic 

knowledge is vital in advocacy 

(see Figure 2). Disabled people 

need to be prepared when 

Malaysia has laws in place and 

with the technical and strategic 

knowledge, disabled people 

Figure 2: The lack of integration and implementation of the Building 

Regulation relating to access for disabled people has led to a situation 

that disabled people need to address themselves. The figure shows the 

many variants of implementation or lack of it in access to the built 

environment and public transport in Malaysia. 

5 UNESCAP, 2001, Pathfinders: Towards Full Participation and Equality of 

Persons with Disabilities in the ESCAP Region, Social Policy Paper No. 2, 

2001, ST/ESCAP/2170


63 

Plate 1: Disabled people involved with an Access Survey and Consultation 

exercise with the Technical Committee of the Petaling Jaya Municipal 

Council (MBPJ) in May 2007. They recommended what needed to 

be done for a stretch of pavement and crossings in front of MBPJ’s 

headquarters building in Section 52, Petaling Jaya. (Photo Credit: Nor 

Rasidah Hashim) 

can be ready to do access 

surveys and access audits, and 

also train Government officers, 

businesses and service providers 

on disability awareness. 

Local authorities usually 

have different departments to 

supervise different components 

of the Built Environment (see 

Figure 2). Awareness training for 

local authority officers should 

be conducted as and when 

it is needed. It is the role of 

disabled people to continuously 

communicate with the officers on 

issues in the built environment 

that needs to be rectified. 

Access surveys and audits are 

implemented in several stages, 

as follows: 

● Presenting general findings 

At this stage, disabled people 

need to know who requested for 

the Access Audit to be done. The 

survey and audit done will be a 

preliminary one without costs of 

the specifications, and would be 

informative enough to provide 

the management with ideas on 

how to solve the problems. This 

will enable a good discussion 

at the preliminary stages. 

● Design and management 

When the Access Audit has 

been presented, disabled people 

need to do a follow-up and 

stress on their availability to 

discuss with the management 

on barrier-free issues generally 

and the audited building in 

particular. The meeting with 

the management or even the 

designers if invited to consultant 

meetings would reveal to what 

extent the management is 

considering incorporating the 

audit suggestions. 

● Access Audits complete with 

costs 

T h e i n p u t f r o m t h e 

management and designers 

wo u l d a l l ow r e f i n i n g a n d 

completion of the preliminary 

access audit with the addition 

of costs. The specifications in 

the audits should be as detailed 

as possible, and be advised 

by suppliers and even quantity 

surveyors if necessary. 

● Budgeting and upgrading 

work 

This stage is almost the 

same as the stage before, 

but in certain cases disabled 

people might have to advise 

certain owners and service 

providers on the budgeting 

and upgrading work with 

the help of professionals and 

contractors. This is certainly 

not applicable to businesses 

but may be applicable to non- 

Governmental organisations and/ 

or owners that cannot afford 

consultants. 

Disabled People as 

Resource Persons and 

Technical Advisors 

A f t e r e x p e r i e n c i n g t h e 

Disability Awareness Training and 

other technical training, disabled 

people will have sufficient skills 

in being Technical Advisors on 

matters pertaining to accessibility, 

inclusive policies and universal 

design to local authorities and 

the private sector. This had been 

proven with the incorporation 

of the Technical Committee on 

Accessibility by the Petaling Jaya 

City Council (MBPJ). In this 

case, disabled people involved 

in this committee meet once 

a month and recommend what 

needs to be done (see Plate 1). 

Conclusions 

With the adoption of the Biwako 

Plus Five action plan and the 

enactment of the Persons with 

Disability Act 2007, disabled 

people in this country are 

given the boost to advocate a 

barrier-free built environment. 

Although there are still gaps 

in the country’s policies and 

regulations to attain a truly 

barrier-free built environment, 

disabled people should participate 

by volunteering in access audits 

and surveys. It is vital to know 

the right tools and the right 

knowledge to make changes 

in society. BEM

64 ENGINEERING NOSTALGIA 

THE INGENIEUR 

Kuala Lumpur – Major Flood In 

January 1971 

Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad 

Bank Negara, Benteng 

Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman 

Submitted by: Nasrul Hadi and Ir. Ishak Abdul Rahman

BEM Dec07-Feb08 (Pro.. - Board of Engineers Malaysia

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