KUALA LUMPUR – Today’s fire at the old Sanitary Building near Jalan Raja, here, has raised concerns on whether enough is being done to protect and maintain the nation’s historic and cultural buildings.
Penang historian Salma Nasution Khoo said buildings under the purview of the Heritage Department do get a budget for restorations, but only a few buildings receive these funds.
“Apart from the budget to restore the buildings there should be a budget for low-cost emergency repairs and maintenance,” Khoo told The Vibes when contacted here tonight.
Khoo said this would allow funds to be spread out, providing coverage to a larger number of buildings.
Meanwhile, Steven Thang, who heads the Malaysian Institute of Architects’ (PAM) Heritage and Conservation Committee said there are regulations in place to ensure the safety of these buildings, especially with regards to fire.
However, in the case of buildings which are not currently being used like Panggung Bandaraya, the question would then be, were its fire safety systems active?
Thang said these systems are especially important given that it is possible that electricity could still be running in these buildings, which is a fire risk.
“Since they vacated the building, we are not sure if the systems are active or not,” he told The Vibes.
Khoo clarified that the fire broke out at the old Sanitary Board building and not at the Panggung Bandaraya as everybody thought.
Khoo and Thang were commenting on the fire which broke out at the front porch of Panggung Bandaraya here earlier today.
The Vibes contacted DBKL to confirm the matter, and a spokesman said a small fire happened earlier in the day, but the fire department managed to handle the situation successfully.
In 2019, New Straits Times reported that Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan has plans for a RM120 million upgrade to Panggung Bandaraya. – The Vibes, February 13, 2021
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