What could we in Sarawak learn from the Penang highway bridge disaster? Well, if nothing else, we are made more aware of the many shortcomings with regard to our own basic and vital infrastructure. Our maintenance system and our teams of inspectors from the ministry of works are being called into question. Do we have what it takes to maintain the standard of a first world infrastructure now and into the year 2020? To paraphrase what our former Prime Minister Pak Lah often said: “Are we still trapped in the cobweb of a third world mentality?” In Malaysia as a whole, after the Penang bridge incident the need to know the strength, weakness, and the general condition of our vital physical structures, is even more urgent. The formation of an asset management committee which will look into the management of government and public assets and facilities is most timely. That is not enough and barely scratches the surface of our infrastructure complexities. Malaysia needs a society of top-flight civil engineers - we shall call it “Society of Malaysian Civil Engineers” (SMCE) - to be commissioned by the government to undertake the job of overseeing and inspection of all our vital infrastructures on a regular basis and prepare reports for the cabinet, if need be, for deliberation in Parliament, as and when necessary. It is better to be prepared now than when a tragedy has occurred. Better to be safe than sorry! Speaking of maintenance, the key issue is funding. It is important to remember that even when fund is at its lowest, an inexpensive, quick-fix remedial measure will bring more problems and perhaps disaster. We in Malaysia should not, under any circumstances, repeat what has happened to the First World countries infrastructure failure, simply because of lack of funds to carry out maintenance work on a regular basis. There is no compromise in matters of maintenance funds because many lives will be lost due to management failure. Before something similar to what had happened to the Penang bridge happens else where in the country, it is inevitable that Malaysia keeps itself abreast with the latest engineering technologies to upgrade our physical infrastructures, especially with reference to bridges, flyovers, airports and highways. We should adopt, if we have not done it yet, the system of assigning cumulative grades and give ratings to our buildings, bridges, highways, navigable waterways, dams, drinking water, sewage treatment plants, landfills, power lines, and all other vital infrastructures as a monitoring device to detect structural deficiencies and deterioration in our bridges, flyovers, dams, buildings and other vital infrastructures. We need to know with scientific accuracy, the state of the country’s physical foundation. The need to have the system of assigning grades/ratings to our physical infrastructure is of paramount importance. There is no other way. To my mind, this is a matter of great urgency. Only by having cutting edge engineering technology for the grading of its infrastructure, and a scientifically proven rating system to gauge and measure it with, could Malaysia be absolutely certain about the structural efficiency and strength of its physical structures. When deficiency is detected, we should initiate repair, or demolish those that have reached the state of disrepair, and rebuild those that must be rebuilt, bearing in mind that the demand for such physical structures throughout the country is always on the increase. In all our endeavours to provide quality physical infrastructure, safety considerations should be foremost in our mind. Let us look at our infrastructure scenario closer to home in Sarawak. Suppose a Santubong resident who uses the Santubong Bridge twice a day out of necessity, is curious to know whether the bridge is safe to use, or when the bridge was last inspected to find out if there were cracks, or to determine its structural weakness, bridge-worthiness, etc., where would he go to for an answer? His next question would be: what cumulative grade (say, A to F, or 1 to 10 or whatever) is presently assigned to Santubong Bridge so that we could ascertain its structural, design or maintenance problem, if there is any? To obtain the correct answers, I guess he would consult his Member of Parliament for that area, who in turn will have to consult a responsible agency, a professional (engineering) body. If the answer could not be made available here in Sarawak, perhaps a body of top-flight engineers, say, the Society of Malaysian Civil Engineers in the national capital, if such a body does exist, may come up with an answer. It might have already devised a scale to assign cumulative grades/ratings to all Malaysian bridges, navigable waterways, dams, flyovers, airports, landfills, power lines, etc. In case information on the up-to-date status of the Santubong Bridge is currently not available anywhere in Malaysia for whatever reasons, our MP for Santubong could and should make a plea for such a system to be put in place immediately before it is too late. Those who live in the magnificent shadows of the Tun Abdul Rahman Bridge (Kuching), the Santubong Bridge, the Penang Bridge, the PLUS highways and the thousands of flyovers throughout the country, are in the same uneasy place as the Santubong resident and millions of other Malaysians who traverse bridges, highways and flyovers daily. Prompted by the many bridge disasters around the world, and more recently by what happened in Penang recently, many Malaysians, including the Santubong resident, have a lingering suspicion that our own bridges, flyovers, highways, may have structural, design or maintenance problems. Someone must be made responsible to assure Malaysian citizens that our bridges, highways, flyovers, etc., are regularly inspected and are structurally safe! NA008
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:42:10 +0000
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