MAKATI PH NEIGHBORS COMPLAIN OF NOISE FROM M’SIAN EMBASSY’S COOLING TOWER?

MANILA, Philippines - Residents of a Salcedo Village condominium in Makati City are complaining about the 8- to 10-hour noise created by the Malaysian embassy’s three cooling towers, it was learned.

Ellen Paulete, property manager of Two Lafayette Square Condominium Association Inc., said her office has informed the Malaysian embassy about this since August 2012 but the noise has not subsided.

• "A number of tenants have been driven away from the condominium as a result of the noise from the coolers," Paulete said in a letter sent to Zakaria Nasir, head of Chancery of the Malaysian embassy.
• "Remaining condominium owners fear the noise will result in more tenants being forced to move out, causing significant reduction in the price value of the units,” she added.
• Two Lafayette Square Condominium is located just beside the Malaysian Embassy along Tordesillas.
  In response to the complaints, Nasir said a noise measurement level test of the coolers while fully functioning showed that the coolers produced noise of 80-85 decibels, above the 65 dB maximum limit of noise allowed by the Makati Commercial Estate Association's (MACEA's) Memorandum Circular 97-06.
• The test result prompted Nasir to refer the matter to their mechanical consultant, who in turn proposed to install acoustic louvers noise barrier containment for the coolers.

But the embassy needs time to install the noise barrier as it has to go through the process of cost evaluation and submitting a proposal to the Malaysian foreign ministry in Kuala Lumpur; this in turn would have budget allocation for the undertaking, the Malaysian embassy official explained.

"This process may take some time for our headquarters to make a perusal on our proposal before they approve it and furnish us with allocation to proceed with the installation," Nasir explained.

Source: Agency