by Elena Chong
A PROPERTY investment company was brought to court on Tuesday night for breaching the Fire Safety Act over the capark blaze at People's Park Complex in April.
Grand City Investment, which manages the fifth-storey level carpark at Park Road, is alleged to have permitted the fire safety works comprising full-height partitioning works to create 20 rooms over its car parking lots without approval of the building plans.
The company is also accused of having changed the use of the carpark lots into 20 rooms which it had rented out for storage purposes. This made its existing fire safety provisions inadequate, and which had posed a potential fire threat to its neighbouring properties as well as making it hard for fire fighters to contain the fire which broke out on April 21 at about 3.30pm.
The partitioned rooms have since been dismantled.
The company's case was adjourned to June 22. It is represented by Mr Eric Chew Yee Teck. If convicted of the first charge, the company can be fined up to $50,000, and further fined up to $1,000 a day if the offence continues after conviction.
For unauthorised change of use, the company can be fined up to $10,000, and a fine of up to $500 for every day during which the offence continues after conviction.