ST : Store to relook overcrowding issue

Apr 1, 2010

MUSTAFA IN TROUBLE

Store to relook overcrowding issue

By Lester Kok

MUSTAFA Centre management will relook the overcrowding problem in its popular Little India shopping centre, after attempts to curb it have failed.

The building's maintenance and safety manager, Mr Shamim Ahmad, said the overcrowding issue is mainly due to customers coming from the upper floors and the basement to the first floor to exit.

Existing attempts to control the crowd include reducing the number of escalators that bring customers to the first floor and having a camera system to track the number of patrons.

But neither proved effective.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) applied on Tuesday for a court order to suspend the business operations on the centre's first floor due to concerns of over-crowding.

A pre-trial conference for the application will be held next Wednesday. The mall will remain open for business in the meantime.

Mr Ahmad said controlling access to the 24-hour shopping centre is difficult because of the large number of tourists and foreign workers who come on weekends.

'It's not like a cinema, this is a shopping centre,' he added. 'We are trying hard to come up with some solution.'

Checks by the SCDF in December last year revealed that the number of people on the first floor sometimes exceeded the 431-patron limit by almost 50 per cent.

On Jan 19, the retailer was fined $17,000 for two fire-safety violations, including overcrowding.

In the past five years, it has chalked up over 45 fire-safety breaches, which resulted in warnings and fines totalling almost $50,000.

Shopper Doris Yeo, 62, a retiree said that the mall's walkways tended to be congested as they were blocked with goods.

'When nothing happens, this place looks okay on the outside. But because of its layout, it could become a big problem if a fire were to break out,' she said.