Nor Hisham (left) hands over the mock house key to Mohamed Morshidi (centre), witnessed by Wan Hamid (second left) and others.
SIBU: It took six firemen 79 days to rebuild Mohamed Morshidi Junaide’s house at Kampung Bahagia Jaya in Teku here.
The firefighting team of Johari Bohari, Amir Mohd Musi, Inggai Bakau, Shamsuddin Bujang, Rahmat Aini and Mohammad Hasjayadi Jaya worked six days a week to ensure its timely completion.
The project commenced July 25 this year and reached completion on Oct 21.
Mohamed Morshidi’s house was destroyed by fire in early April last year.
State Fire and Rescue Department director Nor Hisham Mohammad said the rebuilding of fire-razed houses was an initiative under the ‘National Blue Ocean Strategy (NBOS) 7 – My Beautiful Neighbourhood 2016’.
“The allocation to rebuild each house is RM50,000 but in the context of the house in Kampung Bahagia Jaya, the amount was more as the house owner had added some money to extend the size of the house,” he said.
Nor Hisham added that the department had numerous discussions pertaining to the design and house owner’s ability to extend the house, and eventually agreed to accept his request to add about 400 square feet – making the total area 1,000 square feet.
“This (Mohamed Morshidi’s house) is the 11th house (in the state), which we have completed (rebuilding) from 2012 till 2016,” he disclosed.
Nor Hisham also revealed that their best record in the project in Sarawak was rebuilding a fire-gutted house measuring 800 square feet in just 27 days.
He was speaking to reporters after the symbolic handover of the housekey to Mohamed Morshidi yesterday, which was witnessed by Temenggong Datuk Wan Hamid Edruce.
Sibu Fire and Rescue chief Abdul Mutalib Rashid was also present.
Adding on, Nor Hisham said the allocation for rebuilding a fire-gutted house was RM45,000 in Peninsular Malaysia, and RM50,000 in Sabah and Sarawak.
Asked to clarify on his point stating that the house had been rebuilt at a lower cost, he explained that it was important to understand the construction methodology.
“When we rebuild that house, our calculation per square foot was based on the current market price. For example, if a house is of low-end (finishing), I estimate the cost to be RM85 per square foot; if a house is of medium luxury finishing – the cost is about RM105 – that is if you have proper infrastructure in place; for high-end (finishing), it is about RM120 per square foot.
“From there, we can calculate why the cost is estimated to be RM85,000 – be mindful that this is a very conservative figure. We did it at RM50,000 without taking into account profit, but there is a cost for indirect labour such as provision of food for them (firemen).”
Nor Hisham also mentioned that Mohamed Morshidi’s house was one out of 267 houses destroyed by fire last year, and was selected after the department had carried out survey and interviewed the applicants. He further said 313 units of longhouses were razed by fire this year.
In his speech earlier, Nor Hisham advised the villagers to have their house wirings checked if they (the wires) were very old.
He also advised them to keep a fire extinguisher at home.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Morshidi was near to tears when approached by reporters yesterday.
“I am very thankful to the government and the department. This is a very beautiful house.”
It is learned that Mohamed Morshidi had been staying at a flat unit in Rantau Panjang since the fire, prior to moving into the rebuilt house.