From Majangkim Office
KOTA KINABALU: A short drive in Luyang last week, and my friend Nazzim pointed out another “White Elephant.”
Another project frozen in time, the developer gone. We didn’t even slow down. We’re that used to it.
Across Sabah, these skeletal frames of unfinished housing and commercial complexes are more than eyesores.
They’re tombstones for shattered dreams of homeownership, for lost investments, for community trust.
The causes are complex—insolvency, mismanagement, bad luck—but our resigned acceptance is the real failure.
We need to shift from cleaning up corpses to preventing the disease. The cure requires two shots: the rigorous enforcement of our existing legal toolkit, and the introduction of a mandatory financial safety net.
Thankfully, the recently gazetted Uniform Building By-Laws 2022 (UBBL 2022) is a powerful, if dormant, vaccine. Paired with smart insurance, we can build immunity against abandonment.
1. Strengthening Prevention: The Law as a Shield, Not Just a Rulebook
The UBBL 2022 isn’t just about wall thickness and pipe sizes. It’s a governance
manual with teeth, if we choose to bite.
Active Oversight, Not Passive Stamping: The local authority has the power to stop work, issue directives, and order safety reviews (By-laws 93, 89(4)).
This shouldn’t wait for a collapse. The first sign of prolonged, unexplained stagnation should trigger an audit. Is the money still there? Is the contractor still on site? Permit renewals must be earned with verified progress reports.
Personal Responsibility Must Be Personal: The Principal Submitting Person (PSP)—the Architect or Engineer—bears continuous, personal responsibility until the final key is handed over (By-law 8). Their professional license and bond should be directly on the line. If they sign off on progress for a project that is financially drowning, they become part of the problem. They must be our professional whistleblowers.
The Ultimate Gate Must Stay Locked: By-law 220 is brilliantly clear: occupying a building without a Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) is an offence. No exceptions, no “temporary” partial occupations. This strips developers of the ability to generate desperate cash flow from a dying project, forcing a financial reckoning long before the skeletons are all that remain.
2..The Insurance Solution: A Financial Parachute
The law can halt a falling project, but it can’t fund its completion. For that, we need a pre-packed parachute: Mandatory Developer Insolvency Protection Insurance.
How It Works: Before plan approval (By-law 3), the developer secures a policy from a reputable insurer. This isn’t optional; it’s the cost of doing business.
The “Completion Fund”: If the developer abandons ship, the payout goes not to buyers as cash (which just refunds a loss), but into a trusteed “Project Completion Fund.” This fund’s sole purpose is to hire a new contractor and PSP to finish the job as per the original, approved plans.
Seamless Integration: This insurance mandate becomes a non-negotiable condition for approval (By-law 3(3)). Proof of active coverage is required at every stage, right up to the issuance of the CCC (By-law 216).
3. The Rescue Pathway: From Ghost Site to Home
When prevention fails, we need a clear, lawful resurrection playbook. The UBBL 2022 gives us the steps:
Official Declaration: The local authority uses its powers (Part XVI) to formally declare the project “abandoned”—a public nuisance and hazard.
Trigger the Parachute: The insurance is invoked. The independent trustee activates the Completion Fund.
Appoint the Rescue Squad: A new, independent PSP and contractor are appointed, insulated from the old developer’s debts.
Finish the Job: The rescue team works under the trustee’s oversight to secure the final CCC, turning a ghost into an asset.
Conclusion: The Buyer’s Dilemma and the Path to Trust
Here lies the most painful twist: Should buyers, trapped in this nightmare, have to keep paying their bank installments while their dream home is a rotting shell?
Under a rescue framework powered by an insurance Completion Fund, the answer must be NO—payments should be legally halted. The fund’s purpose is to complete the asset. Once the asset is complete and the CCC issued, the buyer’s obligation to the bank for that specific property resumes, but with a finished, livable home as collateral. The bank’s exposure is covered by the soon-to-be-complete asset, and the buyer is spared the injustice of paying for air. (Bayar Angin)
Abandoned projects are a cancer on our landscape and our conscience. The Sabah UBBL 2022 provides the surgical tools. What we’ve lacked is the courage to operate pre-emptively and the financial suture to close the wound.
By mandating insolvency insurance and enforcing the chain of professional accountability, we can achieve the ultimate goal: shifting the financial and emotional risk from the individual buyer and society back onto the industry where it belongs. We can move from mourning white elephants to building a future where every foundation poured is a promise secured.
The law is on the books. It’s time we put it to work, and for all of us.
