GEORGE TOWN: The Fire and Rescue Department has made it compulsory for all designated premises to have the Automatic Fire Alarm Monitoring Control System (SPKA).

Penang Fire and Rescue Department assistant director (Fire Safety Division) Yusri Mohd Yusoff said every designated premises/buildings under Section 27 of the Fire Services Act would be required to link their fire alarm system to the nearest fire station through SPKA.

“We will not issue any certification to these buildings until they change to the new system.

“There is no fixed amount to purchase the system as it differs according to the size of the premises,” he said yesterday.

Yusri said there were a number of premises which still used the Computerised Monitoring System which was not applicable anymore.

Meanwhile, Yusri refused to comment on the issue raised by the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) on the appointment of a single entity to supply and install the SPKA.

“I can’t comment on that. You have to ask the Housing and Local Government Ministry,” he said.

In a statement on Thursday, CAP president S.M. Mohamed Idris criticised the advertised “open tender” by the Fire and Rescue Department which was closed on Oct 30, 2015.

“In a mere 33 working days including the time taken to evaluate the tenders submitted, the contract was awarded to a private company, iScada Net Sdn Bhd.

“It is impossible for the tenders to be evaluated and the company picked to have complied with all the criteria listed in the tender within such a short period of time,” he said.

As such, Mohamed Idris is questioning how iScada Net Sdn Bhd was the sole company awarded the project?

CAP alleged that after the contract was signed between the company and the Fire Department in December 2015, it was made mandatory that all designated buildings use the system.

“Even those buildings installed with the CMS system just before the mandatory use of SPKA were required to install the new system at a cost of between RM6,000 and RM7,000.

“We wrote to the Housing and Local Government Minister six weeks ago stressing that the mandatory use of SPKA should be suspended and a full investigation be carried out on the questionable open tender,” he said.