Owners of high-rise buildings are 'playing with fire'
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Inspection campaign launched after Fire Service Department raises rates up to 20-fold for new multi-storey buildings in urban areas
The Fire Service Department has launched a campaign to ensure that all high rises in Yangon are adhering to fire safety rules and regulations, an official with the department told Eleven Media.
The campaign follows an announcement that rates for inspections will rise for all buildings of three storeys or more whose construction began this month.
The increase is up to 20 times for new multi-story buildings. Officials say the rise is necessary as rates lagged the rising cost of inspections.
“The reason for the change is simple; the previous rates were not in line with the current environment,” U Tin Min director general of the Fire Safety Department was quoted as saying in local reports.
Officials said failure to comply with safety regulations could be extremely high because few building contractors and owners had attempted to get fire safety certificates.
“Most of building contractors do no come to our department to get [fire-safety] certificates,” the official said, adding that most do not even apply for building completion certificates. Contractors are required to obtain fire-safety certificates in order to get a building completion certificate.
Residents of high rises could be living in danger, as their buildings may not adhere to fire safety standards, the official said.
The Fire Services Department has launched inspections of high rises in Yangon to ensure that they have been certified.
Contractors cannot apply for a building completion certificate unless the Fire Services Department has certified the building as safe, the official said.
The department issues the certificates only if the building is in compliance with rules and regulations set by the Fire Services Department.
“We are conducting inspections of high-rise buildings now. We will instruct owners to apply for building completion certificates if they do not have one. If subsequent inspections find they are still in breach of rules and regulations, action will be taken against them,” the official said. He did not, however, specify what the punishments would be.
The Fire Services Department last year prepared 5,000 manuals on fire safety rules and procedures, but contractors for only 120 buildings requested copies, officials said.
The new inspection rates apply to fire-safety inspections on buildings that are three storey or higher. They apply only to buildings whose construction began from this month, officials said.
The new costs of inspections in Yangon and Mandalay regions are Ks 1,000 per square metre in urban areas, and half that amount outside cities. The same costs apply to the capital.
These rates do not apply to schools and government buildings.
In the remaining five regions, the rate is Ks 500 per square metre in urban areas and Ks 200 outside cities. The rate falls to Ks 200 and Ks 100 for urban and rural areas, respectively, in states.
Since 1997 the rates had been Ks 50 a square metre for every building, except those funded by foreigners, where the inspection rate was set at US$1 per square metre.
