Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex - Technical Difficulties

Technical Difficulties

Within a months after the start of its operation, the courts complex experienced a series of faults and technical failures, raising questions of the building's reliability and the parties involved in the construction of the building, which was only very recently opened.

The problems were reported to have started even before occupancy, beginning April:

• Cracks measuring at least 3m long were reported in early April.
• On April 30, 2007, just over a week after occupancy, two (four feet by four feet) ceiling panels and a downlight collapsed in a Civil Courts room at 10.30 am. No injuries were reported.
• Less than a week after the ceiling panel collapse, cracks measuring at least 3m long began appearing outside Magistrate's Court 4. The cracks were since patched up.
• On May 7, 2007, the air conditioning in a High Court room malfunctioned.
• On May 23, 2007, the cafeteria of the complex was flooded starting 9.15am as a result of a burst pipe endcap from a service room. The flowing water affected three quarters of the cafeteria, and reached a depth of 7 cm. Water supply was cut 15-25 minutes later, and three hours of cleaning work was needed for a return to normalcy. Public Works Department director-general Selvanayagam P. Nagalingam attributed the fault to a plumber, who he claims had defaulted on following design specifications, but added that only two sub-standard endcaps were found.

On the same day, a sewage manhole overflowed in the basement of the complex, damaging a number of files for mostly civil cases. Nagalingam was reported to have state the manhole overflow was the result of indiscriminate disposal of sanitary napkins that could have occurred for some time. The blockage was stated to be immediately cleared after Nagalingam learned of the incident at 9.28am that day.