NKVE rockfall and PORR

well now it seems that this news on the rockfall at KM21.8 along the new klang valley expressway (NKVE) near bukit lanjan on wednesday, 26 nov. seems to be a hot topic in all the mainstream media and of course among bloggers too.

the rockfall at bukit lanjan, NKVE

it seems that this NKVE rockfall incident provide an opportunity for ms linda lim, the co-coordinator of the central ad hoc action committee against PORR (penang outter ring road), to make a statement that PORR alignment may cause rockfall disasters.

well of course i am totally with her since i’m one of those who are against PORR. i had mentioned about PORR in one of my blog titled ‘dap’s wishlist for pak lah’.

coming back to linda lim, she urged the penang state government to halt the PORR project as she fear that due to the alignment of the project, close to some residential areas, the project might cause some disasters. she said that that more than two thirds of PORR’s alignment are skirting along steep hills of Penang, and that preliminary report on the environmental impact assessment study carried out in 1996 stated that unstable boulders might cause major problems during construction and post-construction stages.

linda cautioned that if rockfall disaster ever happen on the PORR alignment areas, it may claim human lives since the alignment is close to residential areas.

in the meantime, penang chief minister, tan sri dr koh tsu koon in response to linda lim said that the alignment had not be determined yet as there is a delay due to mitigation measures. he assured the public that the State Government was concerned over safety aspects of such projects and has called for its implementation to be carried out with care and continuous monitoring.

hmm… of course that’s what they will say… but what happened after the project had been completed? will the govt. continue monitoring? lee lam thye rightly pointed out that the NKVE rockfall disaster is due to failure on maintenance. yes, that’s right, methink malaysian authorities are ‘famous’ for poor maintenance, don’t you think so? build, build, start, start… then what happened after that? after the building and completing, and the parties concerned (eg contractors) bank account getting fatter, they usually wouldn’t care less on the maintenance.

let’s not go so far as seeing PORR being completed… and no maintenance. let’s just hope the penang state govt. would come to its senses and like linda lim said, halt the project. three are so many cons to the project than pros. so penang people, unite and fight against PORR. save penang! say not to PORR!

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for side reading:
my letter in the star in respone to a writer, eng stan, who in turn respond to another writer, syad jaafar syed ali, who is for PORR.