A PROFESSIONAL  body will be appointed to investigate the collapse of a Perak State Parks Corporation building perched on a hill slope at Tasik Banding in Gerik on Tuesday.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Tajol Rosli Ghazali, Who Regretted the incident, said the body would be appointed after a discussion with the Public Works, Department  which would advise the State government on what had to be done.

He said as part of the investigation, the body was expected to call up the consultant and contractor of the project.

"The problem happened over time. The Perak State Parks Corporation and PWD had tried to stabilize the soil to prevent a possible collapse. It began to tilt two to three weeks ago," he said at the State executive council meeting in Ipoh yesterday.

He said initial PWD checks found that the collapse could be due to the piling structure which had become weak and could not support the building.

The building was built at a cost of RM 4.5 million from an allocation by the Tourism Ministry.

Meanwhile, the PWD has started a probe into the incident.

The team is led by its director, Datuk Wong Wai Ching