GEORGE TOWN, Aug 7 (Bernama) -- The Penang Island City Council (MBPP) will appoint consultants to conduct structural safety inspections on heritage buildings here as a preventive measure after a building facade at Lebuh Armenian collapsed on Tuesday.
MBPP Mayor Datuk A. Rajendran said the inspections, to be fully funded by the council, will begin in the heritage area, focusing on buildings showing signs of dilapidation or potential safety risks.
"If a building is deemed less safe, MBPP will issue a notice to the owner to carry out repairs, and if the condition is more severe, we will ask them to vacate (the building)," he said at a press conference at the Town Hall here today.
In addition, he said MBPP will also appoint pest control companies to conduct specific inspections on the wooden structures of heritage buildings to detect the risk of damage due to termite infestation.
Rajendran said such inspections are important as there is a possibility that a building's wooden structures could be damaged by termites without showing obvious signs on the exterior.
He also said that MBPP has issued notices to 66 poorly maintained building units and 63 dilapidated building premises to date.
Regarding the incident at Lebuh Armenian, which resulted in two Sri Lankan tourists being injured, he said the building owner will take action today to remove the structural parts identified as unsafe.
Mohamad Ammtar, 66, and Fatimah, 55, were injured after stones and timber from a first-floor beam of the heritage building collapsed, and preliminary investigations found the incident was caused by damage to the wooden beam due to termite infestation.
On another matter, Rajendran said the use of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system by MBPP since April last year has seen an average of about 7,000 summonses issued each month against users committing parking offences.
He said this shows that the use of such technology helps improve the efficiency of parking enforcement, especially with the number of parking bays under the local authority's supervision now nearing 20,000 bays on the island side.
"The ANPR system helps detect and display information related to the parking status of a vehicle, with each record being reviewed by enforcement officers, and summons offer notices are only issued after the relevant information is verified as accurate according to established procedures," he said.
"If a building is deemed less safe, MBPP will issue a notice to the owner to carry out repairs, and if the condition is more severe, we will ask them to vacate (the building)," he said at a press conference at the Town Hall here today.
In addition, he said MBPP will also appoint pest control companies to conduct specific inspections on the wooden structures of heritage buildings to detect the risk of damage due to termite infestation.
Rajendran said such inspections are important as there is a possibility that a building's wooden structures could be damaged by termites without showing obvious signs on the exterior.
He also said that MBPP has issued notices to 66 poorly maintained building units and 63 dilapidated building premises to date.
Regarding the incident at Lebuh Armenian, which resulted in two Sri Lankan tourists being injured, he said the building owner will take action today to remove the structural parts identified as unsafe.
Mohamad Ammtar, 66, and Fatimah, 55, were injured after stones and timber from a first-floor beam of the heritage building collapsed, and preliminary investigations found the incident was caused by damage to the wooden beam due to termite infestation.
On another matter, Rajendran said the use of the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system by MBPP since April last year has seen an average of about 7,000 summonses issued each month against users committing parking offences.
He said this shows that the use of such technology helps improve the efficiency of parking enforcement, especially with the number of parking bays under the local authority's supervision now nearing 20,000 bays on the island side.
"The ANPR system helps detect and display information related to the parking status of a vehicle, with each record being reviewed by enforcement officers, and summons offer notices are only issued after the relevant information is verified as accurate according to established procedures," he said.