Kota Kinabalu: China developers have allegedly carried out low-standard construction quality projects around the city here.
Sabah Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Satta) Chairman Dato’ Seri Winston Liaw said he had received several complaints that several recently completed development projects, and buyers who received their keys immediately encountered problems.
“One of the projects in the Kota Kinabalu area involved Satta members who are running it as Airbnb, and this involved the tourism sector.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});“Guests who checked in for a four-night stay moved out after one night because they complained that the unit was emitting a dampened smell.
“The unit owner had to engage a contractor, but the problem could not be rectified.
“Another one complained that there were water marks coming out from the wall in the living area, believed to be caused by water pipe leakage.
“This poor-quality job has affected our business and investment value. We believe that all these stem from the absence of quality control,” said Liaw.
To address the problem, Liaw suggested that the Consul General of China in Kota Kinabalu, Huang Shifang, call for a dialogue session with the China construction companies that obtained projects in Sabah.
“The meeting is also to let their parent companies in China know the quality of projects delivered by their companies here in Sabah, which is not up to standard.
“The meeting is important because it is related to the Belt and Road initiative, where China is going to third-world countries to improve their infrastructure for a better living standard.
“This will affect the Belt and Road initiative if the Chinese companies do not impose strict quality control on their projects,” said Liaw.
He said the dialogue session is important because almost 70-80 per cent of the major projects here are done by Chinese companies.
Satta also asked if the law for defect warranties had been shortened from previously 18 months to now nine months upon the delivery of keys to the owner by the management company.
Satta expressed hope that the Consulate General of China in Kota Kinabalu would hold regular dialogues to monitor the Chinese companies in Sabah to ensure they deliver quality work.
“Sabah has secured billions of investments from China; therefore, it is pertinent for all their projects to be closely supervised and monitored,” said Liaw.
Satta also urged the Sabah Government to amend the regulatory loopholes of housing development as soon as possible to prevent abandoned projects.
“They can do it progressively because many things have changed after 10 years. Sabah needs to have stringent housing regulations to boost investors’ confidence,” he said.
There are several abandoned property projects in Kota Kinabalu, and this happened due to developers taking advantage of the loopholes, he claimed.
He suggested that the State Government adopt the build-and-sell concept as advocated by Federal Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming.
“This is very straightforward. The developer builds the property first, obtains the occupation certificate, and then starts selling.
“Although the building cost will be more expensive, and the developer must be financially strong, it is safe and secure and gives confidence to the people to invest,” he said.